No way for a hero like Dr Mahesh Gosavi to go

Dr Mahesh Gosavi committed suicide last week in Thane. Several newspapers wrote about it, saying his expose had removed a chief minister and a governor back in the 1980s. It brought back several memories and the thrill of reading newspapers from a young age.

Gosavi was indeed instrumental in making the chief minister resign. For those who don't know what it was all about, here is a recap. Gosavi was a student of medicine and his co-student was Dr Chandrakala Dawje, who happened to be the daughter of the then chief minister, Shivajirao Nilangekar-Patil.

Gosavi felt he was done in when he failed and Dr Chandrakala passed in what seemed to be a difficult examination. He dug and he dug further. It wasn't easy as there was no right to information then, which would allow him access to papers so easily.

But he fought on and when he got enough ammo, he moved the high court. It was a fascinating read as the court held quick hearings and passed an order that the acknowledged examiners were unduly kind to the chief minister's daughter. There were no strictures against the chief minister, but that was enough for Nilangekar to quit. Several heads rolled which included the governor, since he was the chancellor of the university. The registrar was removed too, if I am not mistaken.

Years later, I got an opportunity to work with the man who reported about it all in Indian Express — Abhay Mokashi — who mentored me in my early years. It was fascinating as Abhay would tell us about Gosavi's courageous battle where he took on the might of the chief minister.

It was, therefore, sad to read that Gosavi could not take on life. A hero should not have died this way. There was a case of medical negligence registered against him in 2008. He had lost his property papers and feared this loss could be misused to grab his property. It sounds unbelievable that he did not think he could get his papers re-issued again. The police will probably answer what really went wrong.

Reading about Gosavi also took me back to an era where the politicians didn't wait till the courts indicted them — they quit at the slightest hint of a blemish. Gosavi's fight in this era would have yielded nothing. The chief minister would have simply stayed on. Just as the prime minister is doing so.