Fake currency racket busted at Hydrabad

ISI LINKS:Additional Commissioner of Police A.R. Anuradha presents the three-member gang before the media in Hyderabad on Saturday.

 Source : The Hindu :Sunday, Feb 13, 2011

HYDERABAD: Police on Saturday arrested three persons from Kurnool who procured fake

Counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denominations having face value of Rs. 6.5 lakh and a Santro car were seized from them, the Commissioner's Task Force DCP, V.B. Kamalasan Reddy, said. Among the arrested was Akula Narendra Kumar Reddy, 36, a businessman from Banganapally of Kurnool presently living at Ramanthapur here.

Police believe Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is behind printing fake Indian currency notes appearing exactly like original ones using latest technology. This is part of their plans to destabilise Indian economy by pumping in fake notes.

Earlier, the agency used to smuggle counterfeit notes through borders along Pakistan. Due to increased surveillance, the fake notes are being sent through porous points along Bangladesh border through West Bengal now.

Before joining hands with gangs circulating fake currency, Reddy was lodged in prison in a murder case. After coming out on bail, he bought a lorry and leased it out to an operator in Chitradurg where he came in contact with a person called Jaya Laxmi supplying counterfeit currency printed in Pakistan.

In 2007, the Nandyal police arrested Reddy while trying to circulate fake currency notes. Three years later, the accused met Shafir and Amir -- both from West Bengal -- who were procuring fake currency notes from a person named Kabeer Hussain of Bangladesh, through a mediator P. Kumar.

Reddy and his associates circulated fake currency notes having face value of Rs. 65 lakh in Andhra Pradesh from April to August last year. The Kadapa district police arrested two of Reddy's accomplices while he managed to escape. Since then, he shifted to Ramanthapur and is operating from here. On a tip-off about his operations, the TF (West) kept tab on his movements and caught him along with his associates, Syed Hussain, 20, and Maqbool Husain, 20, at Mehdipatnam.

ISRO-Devas S-Band spectrum deal cancelled

Source ;New Delhi:  

NDTV Correspondent, Updated: February 17, 2011 13:56 IST

The controversial S-Band deal between Indian Space Research Organisation's commercial wing Antrix and Devas Multimedia has been cancelled. 

The decision to terminate the contract was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). The meeting was attended by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Law Minister Veerappa Moily.

"Antrix S-Band deal with Devas is annulled. The government can't provide S-Band spectrum for commercial activities. We have considered legal aspects of Devas deal and are ready to face them in court. Devas is not likely to succeed," said Veerappa Moily. 

The decision came a day after the Prime Minister strongly rejected any suggestions that his office continued talks with Devas on its controversial deal with Antrix for lease of S-Band spectrum after the Space Commission decided to scrap it.

Antrix Corporation, ISRO's commercial arm, had signed a contract with Devas Multimedia in January 2005 for lease of 90 per cent transponders in two satellites to be built by ISRO.

Bundled into the deal was 70 MHz of S-Band spectrum which was priced at Rs. 1000 crore.
    
A media expose claimed that the deal could have caused loss of over Rs. 2 lakh crore to the national exchequer.

"There have been no backroom talks... There has been no effort in the PMO to dilute in any way the decision taken by the Space Commission in July 2010. On that, I would like to assure you and the country," Singh said in an interaction with Editors of news channels.
     
However, he said that if there has been delay in scrapping the deal, this has been "only procedural".
     
"Though there has been some delay in processing, this was only procedural. The fact is that the contract was not operational in any practical sense," the Prime Minister said.

Earlier, objecting to a government move to annul its contract with Antrix following the S-Band spectrum controversy, Devas Multimedia has said it would take "strong" legal steps to protect its rights and interests.

Contending that it had a legally binding agreement with ISRO's commercial arm Antrix, Devas said it expected the government to fulfill all its obligations under the agreement

2G spectrum scam: Former Telecom Minister A Raja sent to Tihar Jail

Source ;New Delhi:NDTV:February 17, 2011 16:14 IST

Former Telecom Minister A Raja has been sent to Delhi's Tihar Jail till March 3. Raja will be in judicial custody for the next 14 days. He was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 2 in connection with 2G spectrum scam. His CBI custody ended today.

Sources say the CBI told the court today that Raja was not cooperating with the investigators and so it needed more time to question him.

Raja, the alleged mastermind of the 2G scam, is accused of selling spectrum at throwaway prices to companies in 2008 when they applied for mobile network licences.

On Wednesday, the CBI questioned Raja and Reliance Communication's Anil Ambani together for an hour. Ambani was reportedly questioned in connection with his company Reliance Communications being looked at as a beneficiary of 2G spectrum licence. The investigating agency is questioning all telecom players that got licences. 

The key issue the agency wanted to ask Anil Ambani was about Reliance Communications' investment in Swan Telecom. The CBI also wanted to check if Reliance met all the eligibility norms or if they were favoured by then Telecom Minister A Raja. The promoter of Swan Telecom, Shahid Balwa, was arrested by the CBI last week and has also been questioned.

CBI has accused the DMK leader of criminal conspiracy. It says that in 2008, when the government was allocating 2G spectrum for mobile phone networks, Raja twisted the rules to benefit a few companies - especially Swan and Unitech.

The licences for 2G spectrum were not auctioned as many say they should have been. Raja chose to follow a First-Come-First-Served policy which was set by his predecessors.

 But the CBI's case is based on his office advancing the deadline for payments and informing only some of the players.  Companies like Swan and Unitech seemed to have been tipped off to this, because despite the cut-off date being brought forward, they had their payments ready.

After winning their licences, Swan and Unitech sold equity to foreign companies much before they began the rollout of their services.  The giant profits they made seemed to underscore the point that spectrum had been sold far too cheaply by the government.

Swan paid Rs. 1,537 crore and sold 45% stake to Etisalat for a profit of Rs. 4, 730 crore.

Unitech paid Rs. 1,661 crore for its licence, and sold 60% stake to Telenor for Rs. 6,200 crore.

Together, these two players cost the government Rs. 7, 195 crore, according to the CBI. But both Swan and Unitech have denied these allegations.