(IANS) Even as the CBI Saturday raided the offices of telecom service providers Bharti Airtel and Vodafone for alleged irregularities in additional spectrum allocation, the firms said they are co-operating with the government and their documents are in compliance with the laws.
Central Bureau of Investigation officials checked the Airtel office in Gurgaon and Vodafone office in Mumbai and Delhi, and the residences of former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh and former deputy director general in the telecom ministry J.R. Gupta Saturday morning.
On Friday, the CBI registered a case in the allocation of additional spectrum to the private telecom firms when the late Pramod Mahajan was telecommunications minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
"Bharti Airtel has always maintained the highest standards of corporate governance and regulatory compliance. We would like to categorically state that all the spectrum allotted to us from time to time has been strictly as per the stated government policy," said a spokesperson, Bharti Airtel.
Vodafone said in a statement: "All our documents are in complete compliance with the governing laws and regulations. Vodafone India is completely co-operating with the officials and will provide them all required details as part of their checks."
2011/11/18 4:40:34 (IANS) The Delhi High Court has issued notice to telecom major Vodafone over failing to restore services of international SIM card provider Matrix Cellular's cell phone through which it provides services to 65,000 post-paid subscribers of Vodafone.
Taking note of Matrix's plea, Justice Vipin Sanghi issued notice to Vodafone Essar Mobile Service Ltd. Tuesday, seeking its reply by Nov 23.
In October, interim relief was given to Matrix by the court which ordered Vodafone to ensure that its agreement with Matrix remained in force for the next two months.
2011/11/18 19:46:42 New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) The telecom tribunal TDSAT has directed telecom service provider Vodafone to pay Rs.25 crore penalty, 50 percent of what the Department of Telecom (DoT) had earlier levied upon it for issuing bulk SIM cards without proper verification.
"The petitioner (Vodafone) may, therefore, deposit a sum of Rs.25 crore, being 50 percent of the amount, within two weeks from date subject to compliance of the aforementioned directions," said the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) in an order dated Nov 17.
The TDSAT bench headed by chairman Justice S.B. Sinha also said that it is difficult to accept the contention that when bulk connections of more than 10,000 connections had been given in favour of Matrix, the SIM cards could be rented out without the knowledge of the petitioner.
"The question as to whether the stipulations contained in the impugned order are correct or not, may have to be determined at the time of final hearing," the order added.
Vodafone had entered into an agreement with telecom solutions service provider Matrix Cellular in 2003 when it was Hutch and had issued 10,000 SIM cards for its own use which were later in an enquiry by Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cell of the DoT discovered to have been rented out by the operator.
The DoT, therefore, had on Oct 18, 2011 passed an order imposing penalty of Rs.50 crore on the telecom operator.
TDSAT said that it is of the opinion that Vodafone has violated the conditions of licence thus declining to deviate from the order passed by the tribunal in the case of Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular.
2G: Raids at Airtel, Vodafone offices after CBI files new case
2011/11/19 19:12:12 New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday conducted raids in Delhi and Mumbai at offices of three private cellular companies and the houses of two former telecom officials after the agency filed a new case in allocation of additional 2G spectrum when the late Pramod Mahajan was telecom minister during the NDA government, CBI officials said.
The probe agency registered the case Thursday evening for alleged irregularities in the grant of additional spectrum and causing a loss of approximately Rs.508.22 crore to the exchequer during the period 2001 and 2007.
The case was registered against three private telecom companies -- Bharti Cellular now know as Bharti Airtel, Hutchison Max now known as Vodafone Essar, and Sterling Cellular now known as Vodafone Essar Mobile Services -- and two telecom officials -- Shyamal Ghosh, the then chairman of Telecom Commission and secretary (Telecom) and then deputy director general (Value Added Services in the ministry) J.R. Gupta.
The CBI conducted three raids in New Delhi, one in Gurgaon (Airtel) and one in Mumbai (Vodafone).
The agency has also registered a case against unknown officials of Department of Telecommunications.
The agency has excluded the then telecom minister in the case since he is dead. The late Pramod Mahajan of the Bharatiya Janata Party was communications minister between 2001-2003.
"It is alleged that Ghosh and Gupta entered into conspiracy with these telecom companies and abused their official positions," CBI Spokesperson Dharini Mishra said.
The officials with the approval of the minister allegedly took a wrong decision on January 2001 to allocate additional spectrum beyond 6.2 megahertz in violation of the Technical Committee's report.
They also allocated the companies spectrum till 10 megahertz at the fee of an incremental one percent adjusted gross revenue (AGR), instead of charging two percent of AGR for beyond 6.2 megahertz. Till 8 megahertz, they had to charge two percent as per the applicable rules, said Mishra.
The officials showed undue favours and caused cumulative advantage of approximately Rs.508.22 crore to these companies, the CBI said.
The order to allocate was reserved by Department of Telecommunications in 2008.
The investigating agency in January this year had conducted a preliminary inquiry regarding the allocation of additional spectrum from 2001 to 2007.
2011/11/19 19:08:05 IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday conducted raids in Delhi and Mumbai at offices of three private cellular companies and the houses of two former telecom officials after the agency filed a new case in allocation of additional 2G spectrum when the late Pramod Mahajan was telecom minister during the NDA government, CBI officials said.
The probe agency registered the case Thursday evening for alleged irregularities in the grant of additional spectrum and causing a loss of approximately Rs.508.22 crore to the exchequer during the period 2001 and 2007.
The case was registered against three private telecom companies -- Bharti Cellular now know as Bharti Airtel, Hutchison Max now known as Vodafone Essar, and Sterling Cellular now known as Vodafone Essar Mobile Services -- and two telecom officials -- Shyamal Ghosh, the then chairman of Telecom Commission and secretary (Telecom) and then deputy director general (Value Added Services in the ministry) J.R. Gupta.
The CBI conducted three raids in New Delhi, one in Gurgaon (Airtel) and one in Mumbai (Vodafone).
The agency has also registered a case against unknown officials of Department of Telecommunications.
The agency has excluded the then telecom minister in the case since he is dead. The late Pramod Mahajan of the Bharatiya Janata Party was communications minister between 2001-2003.
"It is alleged that Ghosh and Gupta entered into conspiracy with these telecom companies and abused their official positions," CBI Spokesperson Dharini Mishra said.
The officials with the approval of the minister allegedly took a wrong decision on January 2001 to allocate additional spectrum beyond 6.2 megahertz in violation of the Technical Committee's report.
They also allocated the companies spectrum till 10 megahertz at the fee of an incremental one percent adjusted gross revenue (AGR), instead of charging two percent of AGR for beyond 6.2 megahertz. Till 8 megahertz, they had to charge two percent as per the applicable rules, said Mishra.
The officials showed undue favours and caused cumulative advantage of approximately Rs.508.22 crore to these companies, the CBI said.
The order to allocate was reserved by Department of Telecommunications in 2008.
The investigating agency in January this year had conducted a preliminary inquiry regarding the allocation of additional spectrum from 2001 to 2007.
Madhavan has once again become the brand ambassador for mobile major Airtel. Maddy will appear in hoardings, print and on television on Airtel ads and campaigns across south India.
Remember that Airtel has Shahrukh Khan to spearhead their all India campaign, mainly in North India. Maddy is signing up for the second time with Airtel. In the endorsement world, he is still considered as a “safe bet with deep penetration in south India due to his movies.”
Maddy is one actor in Kollywood who has re-invented himself and does his work silently. Meanwhile, he is completing the shoot of his suspense thriller Yavarum Nalam, directed by Vikram and produced by Adlabs, by Feb 15.
After he completes the shoot, the actor is planning to go on a one-month body weight training session in US. He will be back looking meaner and fitter for his new film with Nishikant Kamat by March end.
2011/11/21 10:54:05 (IANS) Shares of telecom giant Bharti Airtel Monday fell 4.43 percent in morning trade at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) following raids at its office by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday.
The CBI Saturday raided Bharti Airtel office in Gurgaon, another telecom firm Vodafone's offices in Mumbai and Delhi and the houses of two former telecom officials after the agency filed a new case in allocation of additional 2G spectrum when the late Pramod Mahajan was telecom minister during the NDA government.
The agency has also registered a case against unknown officials of Department of Telecommunication.
The Bharti scrip slipped 4.43 percent to an intra-day low of Rs.386 in morning trade at the BSE. It later recovered and was ruling 1.26 percent down at Rs.392.65 around noon.
The probe agency had registered the case against the telecom major Thursday evening for alleged irregularities in the grant of additional spectrum and causing a loss of approximately Rs.508.22 crore to the exchequer during the period 2001 and 2007.
According to CBI, the officials with the approval of Mahajan allegedly took a wrong decision on January 2001 to allocate additional spectrum beyond 6.2 megahertz in violation of the Technical Committee's report.
They also allocated the companies spectrum till 10 megahertz at the fee of an incremental one percent adjusted gross revenue (AGR), instead of charging two percent of AGR for beyond 6.2 megahertz.
According to the norms prevailing at the time, till 8 megahertz, the company should have been charged two percent.
2011/11/19 18:54:34 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday registered a case in the allocation of additional spectrum to private telecom firms when the late Pramod Mahajan was telecommunications minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
"The agency has registered a case in the allocation of additional spectrum today during the NDA's rule," said a CBI official.
"The agency also raided the Vodafone office in Mumbai, Airtel office in Gurgaon and residences of Shyamal Ghosh and J.R. Gupta," the official added. The late Pramod Mahajan of the Bharatiya Janata Party was telecom minister between 2001-2003.
While J.R. Gupta was the deputy director general in the telecom ministry, Shyamal Ghosh was telecom secretary.
Earlier, the investigating agency had conducted a preliminary inquiry regarding the allocation of additional spectrum from 2001 to 2007.
The in-laws of Srija are in search of a new house. The couple was spotted looking up for renting new premises in Secunderabad on Sunday. The couple is currently staying in Prakasam Nagar colony in Begumpet area. But after the secret marriage of their son Sirish with Chiranjeevi’s daughter Srija, it has now become impossible for them to stay in their present location.
Srija and Sirish are reportedly keen to return to Hyderabad as early as possible. Their case against Chiranjeevi and his family is coming up for hearing on Monday. The couple has sought protection from Chiranjeevi’s family in their petition in the court. Srija is now desperate to return to Hyderabad. She has stated that she would like to start her marital life at her in-laws place.
Shahrukh Khan along with other Bollywood celebrities is all set to perform at the two hour live Airtel Bindass India concert, organized by UTV’s Bindass.
Boman Irani, Priyanka Chopra, Dia Mirza, Dino Morea, Rakhi Sawant, Kunal Ganjawala, Ganesh Hegde, Nitin and Mauli Dave are the other bollywood stars who will be joining Shahrukh Khan.
The concert will also have Bindaas comical Hass Ley India Duo Mantra and Anirudh performing at the MMRDA grounds, Mumbai, on January 13, 2008. And the telecast is scheduled on January 26.
Hero Balakrishna and brother –in-law Nara Chandra Babu Naidu turned in-laws on Sunday with the engagement of Balakrishna’s daughter Brahmani with CBN’s son Lokesh. The engagement was a close family affair with some special invites from the film industry. The wedding has been fixed for 26the August at Hitex grounds. The muhurthanm is at 8.21 am.
2011/7/8 10:46:26 Bollywood actress Meera Chopra has been linked to a murder case of a house wife . The latest buzz is, Delhi police have filed an FIR against her under section 120(B) and start investigating the case.
The 28 year old Ruchi Bhuttan got married to Delhi based Businessman Sumit some six years ago. Ever since, she was facing harassment from her in-laws and husband for dowry. Later, Sumit comes into contact with Bollywood actress Meera Chopra and they both said to be having intimate relationship. This was mentioned in the dairy of the Ruchi Bhuttan and also confirmed by her sister Shafali. The relationship between the actress and Sumit lead to disputes in the home and finally Ruchi was found dead hanging herself to a ceiling fan in her bed room. Her sister Shafali said that, she talked to her just an hour before her death, when she begged her to take her away from her in-laws house at once otherwise she may not seen again. In a couple of hours, Ruchi’s parents got phone call from her in-laws stating that she commits suicide.
Ruchi’s parents lodged a police complaint against her in-laws, husband and actress Meera Chopra. However, police have not confirmed the role of Meera Chopra in this murder case, as they are still investigating the case.
The secret behind the chemistry between Vidya Balan and Madhavan in the Airtel ads is out. It is Madhavan's two-year-old son Vedant.
The child bonded so beautifully with Vidya on the sets of "Guru" that she became a part of Madhavan and his wife Sarita's inner circle.
In fact the cell phone company has now decided to put out a series of ads featuring Madhavan and Vidya as a couple connecting emotionally on the phone. Madhavan has been running in and out of Mumbai to complete these ads.
"Initially I was only the brand ambassador for Airtel's southern market. But now they've signed me on for the whole country," Madhavan said.
"We've shot a series of ads with Vidya and me. For the last one week I've been running in and out Mumbai and Chennai. During the daytime I'm in Chennai shooting for a Tamil film. Then I take a night flight to Mumbai to dub for the ads," the southern star said.
Curiously, Maddy, as Madhavan is fondly known, and Vidya have hardly shot together for these ads about love and togetherness.
"We've just done one shot together. The rest has been shot with the two of us separately. It's strange people have noticed so much chemistry between us when we aren't even together in the ad. My wife Sarita loves the ad. She thinks Vidya is better than me in the ad. But then she's my harshest critic. All three of us Sarita, Vedant and I adore Vidya."
Vidya has done ads prior to her acting career. This is her first ad after starring in films.
She thoroughly enjoyed the experience. "Years ago I was supposed to do a Tamil film with Maddy. Then we were also supposed to do a Deepa Mehta film together. I think Maddy and I were destined to special things in limited space," says Vidya.
"Both of us had cameos in Mani Ratnam's 'Guru'. People still talk about our romantic scene in the rain (including a kiss). And now the Airtel ads. It's unbelievable how much chemistry people have seen between us in those few seconds. I always say it's the moments that make a romance."
2011/11/27 3:57:06 A 28-year-old housewife committed suicide by hanging to the ceiling fan at her parents' residence in the Jubilee Hills police limits.
The deceased, Rajesh Vani, took the extreme step on Friday night. Vani came to her parents' house at Jawahar Nagar about three days ago due to her brother's death. On Friday, she went to her in-laws house to get her clothes. However, she was allegedly rebuked by her in-laws for staying in her parents' house for so long. She returned and committed suicide at her parents' house later in the night.
Jubilee Hills police are investigating the case. (INN)
2011/10/16 23:30:21 A 30-year-old man was brutally murdered by some unknown persons in the Saifabad police station limits on Sunday. The incident happened just a few yards away from the State Police headquarters.
The deceased, Mohd Aijaz, a resident of Tolichowki, was waiting for an auto-rickshaw in front of Central Court Hotel where he was an employee. Some unknown persons came on motor bikes and attacked him with lethal weapons. He died on the spot. The attackers fled from the spot fearlessly.
Police suspect that Aijaz might have been killed by his in-laws due to domestic dispute. He was married two years ago and later his wife filed a divorce case against him. Later, he also divorced his wife. Police suspect the involvement of his in-laws behind the murder.
A case of murder has been registered and further investigations are on. (INN)
Simran's fans have not responded well to her comeback role as an HIV patient in the Malayalam film Heartbeats. The former south Indian queen was a rage among the film lovers in her heydays. She has acted with all the top actors in Tamil Cinema today except superstar Rajinikanth.
After an affair with a top actor, her career started to wither away and eventually was out of sight. She married Deepak and settled down in Delhi. As offers stopped coming, her thirst for roles of substance started to grow. And to satisfy this thirst, she succumbed to doing shallow movies with only glamour to talk of like Kicha Vayasu 18. She even tried to get her husband a few roles. After constant failure, she stayed away from films.
Despite these signals from her friends in the industry, she tried to keep up her prestige and refused many sister or in-laws roles that came her way. No one from the Tamil Film industry was ready to give her roles because she didn't invited none of them to her wedding except director SJ Suryah.
After giving birth to a child, the actress came back to Chennai to make it big in films again. After searching for good role for a while, she accepted a role in the Malayalam film Heartbeats, which has mostly newcomers. The film was released last week. Her fans are taken aback by her role as a HIV patient who succumbed to the disease. The poor response to her role in the film has made reconsider her decision not to accept sister and in-laws roles.
The pay packets in CEO are now on par with any other CEO in the world. Sunil Mittla of Bharati Airtel will take home a pay packet of Rs.70 crore in 2011.
In comparison Mukesh Ambani of Reliance will take home just Rs.15 crore.
2010/10/28 12:49:47 Manjari Fadnis! The beauty who attracted even a saint-like director K. Viswanath and a humorous director like EVV, but fails to reach stardom till now. Despite having good physique and acting talents Manjari is still struggling for a break. Her latest movie Subhapradham directed by K. Viswanath might have given her a brake but sadly due to directorial failure she had a set back with it too. But, luckily her talents didn’t go unnoticed in the industry. Mehar Ramesh who is currently directing Jr.NTR’s forthcoming film ‘Shakti’ gave her a chance as a second heroine in his film. No doubt, Manjari gives a tough competition for her co star Ileana who is playing the first heroine role in this film. At the same time Manjari also reveals that she is no less to Ileana in doing hot skin shows. Hope she will have a break with this movie.
2011/3/17 12:34:55 Normally all the newly wedded son-in-laws in the state used to visit their in-laws house during pongal festive session, where as our ‘Sankranti Alludu’ even missed his train to reach before the Ugadhi festival.
Film Sankranthi Alludu starring Yada Krishna, Sunakshi and Reshmi in the main roles is releasing on 8th of April that is three days after Telugu New Year Ugadhi festival. This film is directed by VVV. Satyanarayana and produced by S.Ramesh Kumar under Sri Venkata Krishna Films banner.
Including the hero and heroines several fresh faces like Padya Jayanti, Ranga Swamy, Jayasela, Sarita Chowdary, KK.sharma, Tadi Velu, Tirupati Prakash are being introduced with this film. Apart from these new comers, there are seniors like Chandra Mohan, AVS, Vizag Prasad, Kondavalasa, Gundu Hanumantha Rao, Ragunatha Reddy, Chitti babu, Anath and KK Sharma have played important roles in this film.
2011/10/9 11:08:17 Britain has warned the poverty-stricken African countries over the persecution of homosexuals as this will lead to their aid being slashed, the Daily Mail reported.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell has already cut aid to Malawi by 19 million pounds after two gay men were sentenced to 14 years hard labour under the country's rigidly imposed ban on homosexuality.
The British government described their jailing as "shocking and disturbing". The two men were later freed, but Malawi's defiant President Bingu wa Mutharika went ahead with new anti-lesbian laws, prompting a sharp rebuke from Mitchell.
Mitchell has warned the country's leaders to scrap plans to introduce the draconian new anti-lesbian laws.
Mitchell has also threatened to impose further aid "fines" against Uganda and Ghana for hardline anti-gay and lesbian measures.
The policy was disclosed after Prime Minister David Cameron defended his decision to legalise gay weddings when he addressed last week's Conservative Party conference. (IANS)
2011/1/14 21:15:18 Perhaps, she is one among those very few actresses who ruled the film industry even after marriage. She is Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Bachchan. Though, she enters her 40s recently, still she not only maintains her glamour but also enjoys the craze of her fans. Her recent bilingual film ‘Robo’ with Tamil superstar Rajanikanth fully showcases her glamour quotient as well as her acting talents. However, she finds one task unfinished during all these years. The first and the most important one is motherhood. She plans to incept at the earliest, probably within this year. The other thing she feels very bad about is she couldn’t allocate time to her family and to serve her Bachchan in-laws. She declared that, this year she will cut down all her film activities to minimum level and enjoy the family life as a house wife. She said, she always feels very fortunate to have a husband like Abhi and in-laws like Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan who understands and co operates with her. She said that, it’s her duty to serve and please them all. Perhaps, this might be good news for her family, but surely it is not pleasant news for her fans.
(IANS) Even as the CBI Saturday raided the offices of telecom service providers Bharti Airtel and Vodafone for alleged irregularities in additional spectrum allocation, the firms said they are co-operating with the government and their documents are in compliance with the laws.
Bollywood actress Meera Chopra has been linked to a murder case of a house wife . The latest buzz is, Delhi police have filed an FIR against her under section 120(B) and start investigating the case.
Normally all the newly wedded son-in-laws in the state used to visit their in-laws house during pongal festive session, where as our ‘Sankranti Alludu’ even missed his train to reach before the Ugadhi festival. 
Britain has warned the poverty-stricken African countries over the persecution of homosexuals as this will lead to their aid being slashed, the Daily Mail reported.
