J Gopikrishnan (Article written on Dec 31, 2011) The year 2011 can be remembered as the year of uprising against corruption in India. The year started with nationwide raids of CBI on 2G Spectrum Scam and the arrest of tainted former telecom minister A.Raja, leading to the arrest of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi,…
TAPPED and TRAPPED (Published in Pioneer on April 28, 2010) Govt taps PR honcho’s phone, gets clinching evidence against Raja The cat is finally out of the bag. The CBI has acquired clinching evidence showing that a high-profile woman public relations lobbyist acted as powerbroker in the mutli-crore 2G spectrum scam and that she was…
(Published in Pioneer on Feb 1, 2010) In shortlisting WiMax franchisees, the BSNL has violated its own guidelines which make it mandatory for the eligible bidder to have Rs 100-crore turnover per year for two consecutive years. Neither the shortlisted company, Ampoules & Auto Pvt Ltd, nor its re-born entity Starnet communication Pvt Ltd meets…
[The Pioneer, October 28, 2009] The 2G spectrum scam might not have taken place but for the clout that A Raja wielded in the UPA-I Government, when his party (the DMK) — as a major ally of the Congress — called the shots at the Centre. Documents available with The Pioneer show how the Telecom…
[July 1, 2009 – The Pioneer] The father-son duo that tried to influence a Madras High Court judge through a Union Minister for a favourable verdict in a criminal case was close to Telecom Minister A Raja. Justice R Reghupathy created a sensation on Monday evening in open court in Chennai when he alleged that…
(Reports appeared in ‘The Pioneer’ daily on the blatant corruptions in the WiMax franchise allotment of the State owned telecom company BSNL) May 6, 2009 – The Pioneer Telecom Minister’s Confidant enters into WiMax deal with five shell companies After the 2G spectrum allocation, the Telecom Ministry headed by Union Minister A Raja is embroiled…
[This article published in ‘The Pioneer’ on April 25, 2009] The Chief Vigilance Commissioner has confirmed large-scale irregularities by the Telecom department in awarding licences for 2G spectrum services, and said it would soon fix responsibility for the lapses. In an exclusive interview to The Pioneer, CVC Pratyush Sinha said his organisation had found “gross…
(Report published in ‘The Pioneer’ on March 29, 2009) The 2G Spectrum allocation scam, considered as the mother of all scam in India, caused more than Rs. 60,000 crores loss to public exchequer exposes the vulnerability of prevailing laws of the Nation, at the whims and fancies of political-middlemen nexus. The word Spectrum simply means…
[This book review was published on Sept 21, 2008 in The Pioneer daily] More than fifty years ago, a young elegant man stood up in the Lok Sabha and started speaking, better to say roaring. He was exposing out the first scam in the parliamentary democracy of India, though he belong to the Treasury bench….
(Following are the three reports appeared on ‘The Pioneer’ daily on the violation of norms in the purchase of Radars and Lightning Detection Systems by India Meteorological Department) Sept 11, 2008 – The Pioneer Met flouts rules in buying radars The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has placed an order for purchasing 12 S-band Doppler Weather…