Flexible rise of a salesman

new delhi: last seen, clad in all-black with zips down the front pockets, he was embracing shahrukh khan at a party hosted by his ''brother'', rajya sabha mp rajiv shukla. he's often to be found at samajwadi party general secretary and ''friend'' amar singh's home, mixing drinks for guests. he's also on dps noida's managing committee. man-about-town ashok cha-turvedi, chairman and md of flex engineering, now in custody for allegedly offering a bribe to someshwar mishra, is a typical example of the politician-bureaucrat-businessman nexus which warms the capital's underbelly.fond of throwing lavish parties at his gadaipur farmhouse, chaturvedi is especially close to two former senior bureaucrats from the up cadre. the qualis he was arrested in is only one of five cars parked in his driveway. despite having benefited from his hospitality, all his erstwhile friends are making their distance felt. while shukla said his name should not be mentioned, one-woman fat-loss factory vandana luthra did not return our call. amar singh, who was on the board of the company, said he quit on wednesday when he heard the news. ''i did not feel it prudent to continue as a public man. it happens every day but most people go scot free.'' he adds that he was there, along with shukla, filmmaker subhash ghai, lt governor vijai kapoor and several top bureaucrats when chaturvedi hosted a birthday party a few weeks ago. ''he was not a social untouchable.'' in fact, chaturvedi loved to do favours, even if it was to fly a marwari cook to a zurich hotel to provide ''home food'' for guests. all of 46, he came to delhi in 1981 from kanpur, where he was a salesman of packaged goods. launched in 1983, flex grew into a rs 350-crore pakaging company, which even managed restructuring loans from icici and uti. not just that. he became principal financier of the noida cricket stadium, 60 acres for which were leased from kalyan singh in 1999 at re 1. rajnath singh cancelled the lease in july, leaving him with one less ''social cause''. trelated report on page 3