RRPR is a shell company with no income having 50 percent shares each by husband and wife. Based on what collateral did ICICI Bank give the loan to a shell company? The loan with 19 percent interest was received on October 14, 2008, when NDTV’s friend P Chidambaram was the Finance Minister. On October 16, the RRPL grants interest free loan to its own Directors! This is nothing but fraud. It is sure that this was done with the blessings of ICICI Bank, which gave such a huge loan to a non-income showing shell company.

  As per the Income Tax Report dated December 29, 2015, Prannoy Roy was granted interest free loan of Rs. 20,92,00,009 ($3.11 million[21]) by RRPL on October 16, 2008, just 48 hours after RRPL got Rs.375 crores from ICICI Bank with 19 percent interest. The same day RRPL also gave interest free loan of Rs.71,00,00,107 ($10.5 million) to wife Radhika Roy too. This implies that out of the Rs.375 crores ($56 million) loan, Rs.92 crores ($13.6 million) went to the Roy household! Prannoy Roy has been preaching integrity in public life for the longest time, as if he was always taking the high road. Irony died a thousand deaths20!

  Another Income Tax Report of January 29, 2016 also details the complete fraudulent operations of Prannoy Roy through the shell company RRPL in controlling and bagging money in the name of Stock Exchange Listed Company NDTV.

  Where was RBI those days on this dubious loan to a paper company? Well, P Chidambaram was the Finance Minister. That should explain how ICICI Bank gave such a loan and it was a fact that this news was published in M J Akbar owned Sunday Guardian[22], when Chidambaram was out of the Finance Ministry in December 2010. Those days there was a running feud going on between then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram.

  Delhi’s people-in-the-know say that the dirty tricks department of an Industrial House leaked the ICICI Bank’s dubious loan details to Akbar. The Industrial House owner was angry with his then quarreling brother for some hidden money funding in NDTV. The Industrial House owner had a feeling that certain news that appeared against him in NDTV was planted by his brother. Anyway many in Delhi had seen Akbar with the dirty tricks department head of the Industrial House owner many times during those days in late 2010. News always leaks in such a way that we don’t need to go into how it is leaked and just focus on the message. To paraphrase P G Wodehouse, one doesn’t go about leaking one’s secrets about one to one, does one?! In fact, it is known in the Lutyens cabal that it was Pranab Mukherjee who brokered peace between Prannoy Roy and M J Akbar and along with this, a certain industrialist who was on the verge of being brought to book by CBI in the 2G scam also “cut a deal”.

  Income Tax report also exposes how Prannoy Roy’s shell company told blatant lies to the Tax department. To the ITD they stated that they had attached bank transaction details and Certificates of Deposit (CD)s. But the ITD says that it was a total lie and they never attached any such documents. The detailed Income Tax reports are available at Annex 5.

  Second siphoning of around Rs.54 crores:

  After stealing Rs. 92 crores from NDTV in October 2008, the next looting done by Prannoy Roy was on March 8, 2010.The Income Tax Department’s sensitive report to Enforcement Directorate and Delhi Police Economic Offence Wing shows that around Rs. 54 crores was siphoned to the personal account of Prannoy Roy[23]. An exact amount of Rs.53,84,60,960 was shifted from RRPR Holdings through a cheque number 84219 of Syndicate Bank (Hauz Khas Branch, Delhi) Account No: 10006971 to Prannoy Roy’s account.

  The money came to the shell company RRPR Holdings on March 8, 2010 from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group linked company VCPL for increasing the shareholding in NDTV from 26% to 29.19%.

  IT also unearthed that on the same day in the Stock Exchange there were around Rs.134 crores worth of transactions done at a price variation of 98%. The IT department found that these bogus gains were done to benefit the main promoters Mr. and Mrs. Roy and to enable RRPR Holding P Ltd to pay money out to the Roys that was in sync received from VCPL. The question that is on everyone’s lips is when the Government is going to act against this instance of blatant Stock Exchange rigging.

  In any other developed country if a major promoter siphons such a huge amount of money linked to a Stock Exchange listed company, he would have been in jail by now. But in India, the wheels of justice move slowly.

  Long arm of Law catches up with NDTV

  At last the long arm of law has started catching up with NDTV. The wheels of justice started rolling when in November 28, 2016 the Delhi High Court ordered Stock Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to respond to a series of complaints filed by the minority shareholder Quantum Security Services Private Limited for the past four years. In a double whammy to NDTV, on January 12, 2017, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva also ordered Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department to respond within four weeks about the complaints.

  The Order passed on January 12 is a real nightmare to NDTV and its major players because, the High Court also ordered Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department to respond to other complaints filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, journalist and financial analyst S Gurumurthy, former Chief Justice of India (CJI) R C Lahoti, former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, former top cop K P S Gill and whistle-blower Income Tax Commissioner S K Srivastava for the past few years.

  This Order will force NDTV to face the CBI and Delhi Police EOW probes as they are linked to the ongoing probes of Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department.

  In addition to the January 12th order of the Delhi High Court, on January 17th, 2017, the Honorable Judge also ordered SEBI to file a reply as to why they have been refusing a hearing and submission of evidence in person by Quantum Securities P Ltd. This is the most bizarre situation - a law enforcement agency is refusing a deposition to an investor/ complaint who is privy to an act of crime and his statement and submissions would actually assist the enforcement agency to adjudicate the matter in a fair manner. One wonders as to why is SEBI avoiding this? Do they have instructions to bury these complaints and not let the complainant/ investor speak out the truth and depose under oath?

  The confession of CEO K V L Narayan Rao (to the Income Tax Department) is going to affect NDTV badly. Rao’s admission of guilt on illegally routing 150 million dollars in 2008 (at that time the value was Rs. 640 crores) through a Netherland based shell company is strong proof of money laundering and this would directly invite the slapping of charges under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) which envisages jail term of three to seven years to the major players. Will Rao become an approver in Court to save his skin by sticking to the confession recorded before Income Tax officials? Only time will tell.

  Who are the major players? Subramanian Swamy has already produced the London based shell company shareholding details involved in money laundering. Per the document (Annex 2), apart from Mr. and Mrs. Roy, senior journalists Barkha Dutt, Vikram Chandra and Suparna Singh are also shareholders or directors of the company during the scam period. Soon after money was laundered into India via the Mauritius routing, this paper company was closed. In fact, as per the annual report of NDTV, all these shareholders like Barkha and Vikram Chandra etc. received ex-gratia money from NDTV. Where does the minority shareholder or statutory dues such as income tax come in? Shouldn’t they have received the legitimate taxes and dues before ex-gratia is distributed in a cash negative / loss making Company?

  Now Barkha Dutt has jumped from the NDTV in second week of January 2017. There is a saying that rats will first jump from sinking ship. But in law, this jumping out is not an excuse or escape route. In criminal cases, those involved during the crime period have no excuse. She can save herself from criminal prosecution only by becoming an approver. Will she? Let us wait and watch.

  Will Prannoy Roy and wife escape to their home in South Africa like the fugitives Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi? For the past two years, many times Roy has flown to his South African home. This was the excuse given his top officers to the Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate.

  We must remember that NDTV in 2008 terminated around 500 staffers claiming a huge loss and blaming it on the Global Meltdown in USA. During this period they declared Rs.64 crores to Income Tax and many persons faced salary cuts. But now facts prove that during the same period NDTV got 150 million dollars (worth Rs.640 crores at that time) from GE’s subsidiary company via Bermuda and Netherlands. Moreover on the same year Prannoy Roy and wife siphoned Rs.92 crores to personal accounts. And this man preached ethics and morality!

  NDTV from the very beginning was the product of an unholy nexus among journalists and politicians and with full encouragement of the latter; NDTV looted the resources of public broadcaster Doordarshan. From 2004, in many corruption cases, it can be seen that there is a money trail to NDTV. Be it Aircel-Maxis scam or GE’s attempt to loot Indian Railways, somehow the key players in corruption either invested or routed money to NDTV’s kitty. It is believed and known to many in the Lutyens circle that Prannoy Roy is a good friend of both T. Ananda Krishnan (of Astro Malaysia) and also of C. Sivasankaran. In fact, NDTV has done a few sweet deals with Astro and have received equity contribution from them. Were these part of a quid pro quo or are they genuine investment deals?

  Niira Radia tapes expose how the controversial lobbyist helped pump money into NDTV. She was a key player in 2G Scam and the tapes exposed her role in hushing news of KG Basin looting. At the end we have seen all these players in the scam were investing or routing money in NDTV. Even one of the Coal Scam accused Naveen Jindal’s father in law’s company Oswal Group had invested in NDTV.

  Forget the big scams, even in small incidents the NDTV management has taken their pound of flesh. In 2005-2006, there was a big strike in Honda plant in Haryana[24]. NDTV initially had hyped up the report as a big labour strike in Honda’s car plant. But later it was seen that there was a heavy pumping of advertisements of Honda in NDTV and many senior staffers of NDTV were driving Honda Cars! How come all senior staffers were using the same car make? Staffers’ excuse was that it was a part of a corporate arrangement through a soft loan provided by the company. Does this sound like a sweet quid pro quo between Honda and NDTV? These are all unethical activities in the garb of journalism. This kind of hit job or Supari journalism must cease for the benefit of the country and its democracy. Otherwise it would pollute the polity and society of the country. This must end.

  There is a Latin saying frequently used in several judgments across the world – ‘Fiat justitia ruat Caelum.’ The meaning is - "Let justice be done though the heavens fall." This should happen. There is no point in shedding tears over the collapse of NDTV. The corrupt people headed by NDTV looted in the garb of the noble profession of journalism. And the corrupt must fall.

  Once again let us repeat: ‘Fiat justitia ruat Caelum.’

  ANNEXURE DOCUMENTS

  Annex 1: Income Tax findings against 2 IRS Officers

  Annex 2: Directorship and shareholding pattern of the London based company NDTV Networks Plc.

  Annex 3: Swamy’s complaint to the Prime Minister

  Annex 4: Income Tax notice slapping Rs. 525 crores fine

  Annex 5: IT reports on NDTV shell companies

  INDEX

  2

  2G Scam · 10, 17, 30, 36

  A

  Aircel · 9, 24, 26, 36

  Alliance Capital · 5

  Amal Ganguli · 25

  Arun Jaitley · 6, 7, 12, 16, 22, 24, 28

  Atal Behari Vajpayee · 8

  B

  Barkha Dutt · 7, 8, 18, 24, 26, 30, 35

  Bhaskar Ghose · 5, 6

  Bhaskar Menon · 25

  BJP · 7, 8, 16, 24, 26, 35

  Brinda Karat · 7

  C

  C M Ibrahim · 6

  Cabinet Ministers · 8, 30

  CBI · 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 17, 22, 24, 25, 26, 32, 33, 35

  Central Government · 6

  Coal Scam · 36

  Congress · 5, 7, 8, 9, 24

  D

  Delhi · 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 32, 33, 35

  Delhi Police · 12

  Digvijaya Singh · 24

  Doordarshan · 5, 6, 8, 32, 36

  DRP · 18, 19, 21

  E

  Enforcement Directorate · 12, 16, 22, 24, 30, 33, 35, 36

  F

  Farooq Abdullah · 7

  Finance Ministry · 8, 10, 16, 17, 24, 33

  FIR · 6, 8, 12

  Freedom of Press · 2

  G

  GE · 19, 25, 28, 29, 30, 36

  General Electric · 19

  Goldman Sachs · 5, 14, 17

  H

  Home Minister of State · 9

  Honda · 36

  I

  I K Gujral · 6

  ICICI · 17, 19, 26, 32, 33

  Income Tax · 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36

  India’s premier TV channel · 2

  J

  Jardine Fleming · 5

  journalism · 2, 5, 7, 8, 26, 36

  K

  K P S Gill · 16, 35

  K V Krishna Rao · 9

  K V L Narayan Rao · 9, 25, 30, 35

  Kaushik Datta · 25

  KG Basin · 9, 36

  L

  L K Advani · 8

  License Raj · 4

  licenses and permits · 4

  M

  Madhu Kishwar · 7, 10

  Mahendra Nahata · 17

  Maxis · 9, 24, 26, 36

  MIB · 3, 6, 8, 14, 17, 18, 19, 27

  Morgan Stanley · 5

  Mukesh Ambani · 9, 17, 33

  N

  N R Narayana Murthy · 25

  Narasimha Rao · 4

  Narendra Modi · 7, 8, 9, 11, 26, 28

  Naveen Jindal · 9, 36

  NBCU · 19

  NDTV · 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36

  Nidhi Razdan · 9

  Niira Radia · 8, 9, 36

  O

  Omar Abdullah · 9

  P

  P Chidambaram · 8, 16, 17, 24, 26, 30, 32, 33

  Prakash Karat · 7

  Pramod Bhasin · 25

  Pramod Mahajan · 8

  Pranab Mukherjee · 8, 10, 16, 33

  Prannoy Roy · 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 26, 30, 32, 33, 36

  Prime Minister · 6, 8, 9, 20, 24, 26, 28

  Private Sector · 4

  Promoters · 2, 4, 12, 14, 17, 19, 22, 26, 28

  Q

  QSL · 20, 22, 26

  Quantum Securities Private Limited · 12, 16

  R

  R C Lahoti · 16, 35

  Raghuram Rajan · 24

  Rahul Gandhi · 20

  Rajdeep Sardesai · 5, 6, 7, 8

  Rashtrapati Bhavan · 8

  Rupert Murdoch · 6, 8

  S

  S Gurumurthy · 10, 16, 35

  Sanjay Dutt · 12, 13, 16, 18, 22

  Sanjay Jain · 12, 16

  Sarah Jacob · 9

  SEBI · 3, 6, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 35

  Securities and Exchange Board of India · 12, 21

  Socialism · 4

  Sonia Gandhi · 7, 8, 9, 20, 30

  Srivastava · 9, 10, 11, 16, 35

  Star · 6, 8

  Subramanian Swamy · 16, 24, 26, 35

  V

  Vajpayee · 6, 8

  Vikram Chandra · 12, 18, 24, 26, 28, 30, 35

  Y

  Yashwant Sinha · 16, 35

  * * *

  [1] The exchange rate in 1997 was on an average USD 1 = Rs. 35.75

  [2]The Tempest – How Radhika and Prannoy Roy undermined NDTV? Caravan Magazine December 1, 2015 issue

  [3]The ‘Murdochization’ of news? The case of Star TV in India by Daya Kishan Thussu

  [4]How Barkha Dutt helped the Terrorists – Excerpts from Gen. V P Malik’s (Retd.) book Kargil – From Surprise to Victory

  [5]2002Gujarat riots coverage by NDTV

  [6]NDTV Role in Adding Fuel to the Fire During 2002 Riots – Madhu Kishwar interviews Narendra Modi

  [7]Madhu Kishwar blasts Rajdeep Sardesai at Odisha Literary Festival

  [8]What is KG Basin Oil Scam?

  [9]CBI probes NDTV Tax assessment officers – PGurus website Aug 18, 2016

  [10] Average exchange rate was 1 USD = 43.40 rupees

  [11]The conversion rate used in this article is 1 USD = 66.89 Rupees

  [12] The conversion rate used in this article is 1 USD = 49.33 Rupees

  [13]NDTV claimed they sold dreams. IT said: No. It is a sham transaction, slaps ₹525 cr fine – PGurus.com August 1, 2016

  [14]Writ Petition against SEBI on NDTV Documents filed in the High Court of Delhi by Quantum Securities

  [15]Swamy seeks CBI-ED probe against NDTV and Prannoy Roy, Barkha Dutt, Vikram Chandra and Sonia Singh PGurus.com August 10, 2016

  [16] The conversion rate used is 1 USD = 42.80 Rupees

  [17]GE and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) Announce GE Evolution Series Passenger Locomotive to be Manufactured in Astana

  [18]GE, Alstom get contracts for Marhora, Madhepura loco projects Economic Times/ PTI Nov 9,2015

  [19]NDTV Director KVL Narayan Rao admits guilt of illegal money routing of $150M through Netherlands PGurus.com December 28, 2016

  [20] Unending saga of NDTV frauds – Prannoy Roy & wife granted Rs.92 crores interest free loan to themselves PGurus.com December 16, 2016

  [21]The conversion rate used in this article is 1 USD = 67.46 Rupees.

 

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