New Delhi, Dec. 13 -- Rajat Gupta was convicted of securities fraud and sentenced to two years in federal prison in the US. Following his four-week trial under the harsh glare of the arclights, judge Jed S. Rakoff declared that "the evidence of guilt was, in this court's view, overwhelming... The crime was disgusting in its implications.", adding that when senior executives engage in insider trading, "they must be made to understand that when you get caught, you will go to jail".

But Rajat Gupta was also once the chairman of McKinsey, the world's foremost consulting company, so influential that it was referred to merely as The Firm. He was the first Asian and the first Indian to head the consulting giant during its glory years, when it s...