Who Was Babita Deokaran? Civil Servant Killed After Giving Info On PPE Scam

who was Babita Deokaran?: An Indian-origin woman who gave information about a PPE scam was assassinated on Tuesday.

Babita Deokaran was dropping her child off at school on Tuesday after which the incident took place. She had almost reached home in the Johannesburg suburb when several gunshots hit her through the car door.

Bishop Tony Haripersadh, who was Deokaran's sister's husband said in his statement, "Someone tried to silence her because she was someone who always did things the right way."

According to the statement by the Special Investigating Unit, "Deokaran was one of the Special Investigating Unit's key witnesses in their investigation into the more than R300 million spent on personal protective equipment (PPE) by the Gauteng health department."

He added, "She stood for what was right and she was not afraid. Our dear sister died a noble woman; our family salutes her. All we want now is justice and for the perpetrators to be brought to book."

Who was Babita Deokaran?

• Deokaran was a 53-year-old Indian-origin woman working in South Africa.
• She was working as the senior official at the Gauteng provincial Department of Health.
• She had provided critical information regarding a more than 330 million rand (over USD 20 million) fraud.
• Kaizer Kganyago, the Serious Crime Investigation Unit (SIU) spokesperson said that she was one of the important witnesses in the fraud case of the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa last year.
• Kganyago said that the case was already nearing an end.
• According to David Makhura, Babita Deokaran took to her heart, the call to bring perpetrators of corruption and looting of public resources to book.
• He further added that Deokaran had stopped payments for a number of irregular contracts in the department. Makhura also extended his heartfelt condolences to the Deokaran family.