How India Reacts to Rajat Gupta's Sentence

Bangalore: Former Goldman Sachs director, Rajat Gupta, 63, has been convicted of insider trading by a New York court and he now faces a prison sentence of 2 years. During the trial which lasted months, the prosecution accused the one time director of Procter & Gamble, through wiretap evidence, of brazenly revealing confidential company information to his friend, hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. Rajaratnam, who is the founder of the $7 billion Galleon hedge fund, is already serving a 11 year prison term for insider trading.

The case has been on the industry watch list for quite some time. The former IIT and Harvard Business School alumnus has greatly contributed to charitable endeavors across the globe. Bill Gates among many others, had come out in his support before the date set for sentencing, stating: "I know most personally that the poor of the world have a profoundly capable & articulate advocate in Rajat Gupta," in a letter to the presiding Judge Jed Rakoff. Mukesh Ambani, talking about Rajat’s philanthropy had said: "He always talked about things he wanted to do for India, for others, never about himself. I respect Rajat's selfless dedication" His defence counsel had argued for leniency in his sentencing and asked for the sentence to be commuted to community service in Rwanda. The denial of this plea has shattered the hopes of his many industrialist friends and well-wishers worldwide, especially in India.