Harassment at Infosys: Ex-Employee Files Lawsuit

SiliconIndia   |   Friday, 10 August 2012, 13:22 IST   |

Satya Dev Tripuraneni, a US citizen and former employee of Infosys in the U.S., has filed a lawsuit in a federal court of the Northern District of California on August 2nd claiming harassment following his complaint against visa-fraudin the company, NDTV said in a report.

Tripuraneni alleges that even though he informed about the misuse of B1 visas to the Infosys management, no action was taken; instead he was subjected to harassment. He was an account manager with the US branch of Infosys and has worked for the firm for five years.

According to the lawsuit, Infosys also cheated its clients by billing them fraudulently for employees brought from India and they also took extra money from the clients for taxes.

This recent case of visa fraud came as big blow to Infosys, India's second largest software services provide, as it is the second lawsuit the company is facing over visa-fraud.

Infosys confirmed the lawsuit and said, "Shortly after Tripuraneni filed his complaint with the Infosys whistleblower team, per our policy, the company launched a comprehensive investigation of his allegations," the statement said.

"That investigation is continuing. As for comments on the legal matter, we are choosing to concentrate our attention and resources on the investigation. We feel this is the prudent and responsible course of action at this time," it said.

The case comes just a few days before the Jack Palmer case is set to go on trial. Last year,Palmer a software project manager at Infosys has complained about harassment and discrimination from his superiors and co-workers ever since he complained about visa fraud at the company.

Palmer accused that Infosys’s brought Indian employees to U.S on B-1 visas which are short term and less costly, instead of H-1B visas.

Palmer had to face serious problems at his workplace following the complaint; he was not given any work assignments, was denied bonuses and moreover was subjected to death threats as well.

"They did the worst thing they could do to someone who is used to working 80 hours a week," Palmer said. "They sit me at home and cut me off from everything. My life is floating in Infosys purgatory." He filed a lawsuit last year asking federal prosecutors to open a criminal investigation.

The trial of the case is scheduled to begin on 20th of this month in a U.S. court, after a negotiation process between the two parties failed.

கொஞ்சம் சினிமா கொஞ்சம் பாப்கார்ன் - 10 Indian Films in Toronto Film Festival

SiliconIndia   |   Thursday, 09 August 2012, 17:14 IST

Bangalore: 10 Indian films are set to be screened at the upcoming 37th Toronto International Film Festival, which will be held from September 6-16.Here is the list of the movies-

Gangs of Wasseypur

Gangs of Wasseypur is a crime movie co-written, produced and directed by Anurag Kashyap, which revolves  around power struggles, politics and vengeance between three crime families. The movie is divided into two parts, since it is not possible to screen a five plus hour movie in Indian theatres. Manoj Bajpai, Richa Chadda, Tigmanshu Dhulia plays the prominent roles in part 1 and Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadda and Reema Sen in the second part.

 Shanghai

Shanghai is a political thriller film directed by Dibakar Banerjee, starring Abhay Deol, Emraan Hashmi, Kalki Koechlin, Prosenjit Chatterjee. It is based on a French movie Zand a novel by the same name and the film is all about four individuals who find themselves tied up into a horrible game of crime and politics. It received positive reviews from all top critics of India.

Peddlers
Peddlers is a movie by debutant filmmaker Vasan Bala and it has Gulshan Devaiah, Kriti Malhotra and Nishikant Kamat in the lead roles. The movie takes us through the city of Mumbai and tells the story of a lady on a mission, a man living a lie and an aimless wanderer. Talking about his first film, Vasan Bala says, "It's great that the film has been selected at Toronto after Cannes. Since the French press sighted a very American independent influence on the film, I am quite curious how it will be received here’’, reports Richa Bhatia of TNN.

Ishaqzaade
Ishaqzaade is a romantic drama film written and directed by Habib Faisal, andproduced by Aditya Chopra . The film which stars debutant Arjun Kapoor(as Parma) and Parineeti Chopra (as the Muslim girl Zoya) received mixed response from the critics. Ishaqzaade portrays the passionate love story of two rebellious individuals.
 

Miss LovelyMiss Lovely is an Indian drama film directed by Ashim Ahluwalia. The Hollywood Reporter (a prominent magazine) noted that "Miss Lovely sets out to prove that Indian cinema can be as rambling, pretentious and frustratingly opaque as a European art movie [and] succeeds rather too well."The movie is about the fascinating and notorious C-grade film industry of the 1980s and it follows the journey of two brothers, who created sex-horror films during that time period.

Mumbai’s King
Mumbai’s King is directed by Manjeet Singh and stars Rahul Bairagi, Arbaaz Khan and Tejas Parvatkar. The film revolves around the lives of two kids, Rahul and Arbaaz who roams the streets together and escapes the harsh realities of their lives by gambling, roasting stolen potatoes, stealing an auto rickshaw for a joyride, and chasing girls. Later on when they grow up, they have to undergo many difficult circumstances in their lives.
 

The Bright Day

‘The Bright Day’ by  Mohit Takalkar tells the story of a young man named Shiv who has a very supportive family, a close group of friends and leads a normal life; but he leaves all these family bonding and sets out on a journey to discover what he seeks in the outside world. He enjoys adventure and freedom and also learns different philosophies about life.

Theseus’ Ship

‘Theseus’ Ship’ directed by Anand Gandhi tells four different stories together -- of a brilliant blind photographer, a monk’s ethics put to test; an obsessive compulsive clockmaker and a young stock broker.

“The title is an illusion to the philosophical paradox. Each character has a strong ideological philosophy, in a constant state of introspection like the blind photographer who is constant dilemma to access her own art, that constant dilemma of whether your art is great or not attracted me to the subject,” Gandhi said.

English Vinglish

English Vinglish is an Indian drama film directed by debutant director Gauri Shinde and produced by R. Balki. The film marks the comeback of Sridevi after 14 long years and it also features French actor Mehdi Nebbou, Adil Hussain, and Priya Anand.Sridevi plays the role of a housewife, who joins an English speaking course in order to please her husband and family.

Shahid

The film directed by Hansal Mehta has Rajkumar Yadav in the lead role along with Raj Kumar, Prabhleen Sandhu and Baljinder Kaur. The movie is all about the true story of a Lawyer and human rights activist by the name Azmi who was killed by unidentified assailants in his office in the year 2010. ‘Shahid’ takes us through the life of an individual who really struggles to come to terms with the injustice and inequality that surrounds him and later on he is wrongfully accused and imprisoned.