new delhi a group of friends of former goldman sachs board member rajat gupta including some top indian businessmen are rallying support for him ahead of a trial in the insider trading case linked to the galleon hedge fund probe sri lankan raj rajaratnam who founded the fund has already been sentenced to a 11year jail term in the casea website titled friends of rajat gupta for fair play and justice has been set up to garner support for the once powerful business executive a respected personality in the world of finance and wall street gupta hobnobbed with the high and mighty but his alleged links in the galleon hedge fund case stunned the worldgupta who is a former ceo of global consulting firm mckinsey co also served on the boards of procter and gamble and american airlinesas you probably know rajat gupta has been charged with crimes related to insider trading to those that know rajat a uniquely accomplished business leader and humanitarian the accusations are a source of shock and deep sadness said a note on the websitethe website has an open letter signed by some top business leaders including itc chairman yogi deveshwar dlf chairman k p singh godrej industries group chairman adi godrej max india founder and chairman analjit singh niit ceo and cofounder vijay thadani and niit chairman and cofounder rajendra pawar among others is also displayed on the sitethe signatories are extremely concerned that the portrayal of rajat gupta in the press and blogosphere have promoted impressions of him that are entirely inconsistent with the rajat we know the open letter said rajat has built several worldclass humanitarian and educational institutions a legacy that will outlive all of us and greatly benefit future generations it said the website says its purpose is to offer a forum for perspectives on rajat by people who know him personally or professionallythis commentary will focus on the character and professional conduct of the real rajat gupta we specifically do not intend to discuss the legal case against him he has a strong legal defence team and we have faith in the american legal system pramath sinha md and founder of 99 mediaworxone of the leading members of the movement to drum up support for gupta told toi that the website will be a repository of all information about gupta and also give a perspective about his personalitywe are expecting more support and a lot more people will sign up sinha saidlast year gupta was released on a 10 million bond in a case where he is alleged to have passed on insider information to hedge fund owner raj rajaratnam sri lankaborn rajaratnam has begun his 11year prison term in the insider trading casegupta charged with insider trading as part of the galleon group llc probe has filed a demand for a jury trial in the civil case brought against him by the us securities and exchange commission sec according to a bloomberg report the trial is expected