New Delhi, April 11 -- This much should be now clear and settled to any reasonable person - the scheme of electoral bonds was an extortion racket, even if it is granted that - to be charitable to its designers - that was not the intention with which it was devised. The legalised corruption that the scheme unleashed will be studied and analysed for a long time and will go down as a milestone in the history of scandals, one that leaves nothing to the imagination given the remarkable and audited documentation that it leaves behind.

Specifics of the transactions in all their horror, particularly when it comes to a) pharma companies and their donations in the wake of investigations into the quality of drugs, b) assorted investigations that be...