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NEW DELHI: Over 15 months after his arrest, former telecom minister A Raja walked out of Tihar jail on Tuesday evening. Earlier in the day, Raja was granted bail by a Delhi court in the 2G spectrum case.

The court granted bail to the DMK MP on a personal bond of Rs 20 lakh and two sureties of the same amount.

The court, in its 14-page bail order, also said that Raja would not try to influence any witnesses while on bail. Raja was arrested on February 2, 2011.

DMK will stand by Raja: Karunanidhi

Backing his party colleague A Raja, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday expressed happiness over his securing bail. “All in DMK support Raja,” Karunanidhi said, hours after a Delhi court granted bail to the former Union telecom minister.

Talking to reporters at his Gopalapuram residence, the DMK patriarch said Raja securing bail gave him happiness. To a question if Raja would be involved in active politics, he said all his partymen had been in active politics and so would be the case with Raja.

Asked whether he would visit Delhi to see his party colleague, Karunanidhi said “if I get a chance, I will visit Delhi to see Raja.”

He refused to comment on his arch rival and chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s remarks expressing fears of the case being diluted in the wake of Raja being granted bail.

2G case getting diluted: Jayalalithaa

Reacting to the news of A Raja getting bail, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa said the 2G scam case was getting diluted.

Meanwhile, the DMK welcomed the decision. “We welcome the court’s verdict and are hopeful that he will come out and prove his innocence,” DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said.

Asked if Raja would attend Parliament or do party work, Siva said that he will take part in activities as per conditions laid by the court for his bail.

Siva said that some DMK leaders may visit the jail at the time of the release of the former telecom minister.

The court, while granting bail to 49-year-old Raja, said all the co-accused in the case have already been granted bail and his further detention would not serve any purpose.

“In the end considering the progress of the trial, period of the custody of the accused and the fact that all other accused have been released on bail, I am of the opinion that further detention of the accused would not serve any purpose and for these reasons, I am inclined to admit the applicant/ accused (Raja) to bail,” the special judge said.

On the apprehension of the CBI that if granted bail Raja may influence witnesses and tamper with evidence, the court said it addressed them by imposing conditions and restrictions on the accused.

The court noted that entire evidence in the case was documentary and was in its custody.

“Moreover, this apprehension of the prosecution (that Raja may influence the witnesses and tamper with the evidence) can be addressed by imposing conditions and restrictions on the accused.

“Furthermore, almost entire evidence in the case is documentary in nature and the same is in the custody of the court,” the judge said.

The court also directed Raja to surrender his passport as a prerequisite for bail.

Raja, who has remained in judicial custody for over 15 months since his arrest, had sought bail on the ground of parity as other 13 co-accused have already secured bail either from the Supreme Court, the Delhi high court or the trial court.

Raja has alleged the case against him is “false and fabricated” and “not sustainable in law.”

The CBI had vehemently opposed Raja’s bail, saying he could not be released on the ground of parity as the charges levelled against him were of serious nature.

The agency has alleged that DMK-run Kalaignar TV had received Rs 200 crore as bribe from Shahid Balwa’s DB Group through a circuitous route as a quid pro quo for favours shown by Raja in spectrum allocation.

The agency has also claimed that during the probe, it had come to light that Raja and others had received a bribe of another Rs 200 crore from certain companies under its scanner in connection with the spectrum scam.

The CBI had raised questions on Raja’s alleged links with Mauritius-based Delphi Investment Ltd, in which Reliance Telecom Ltd had allegedly transferred its shares and said if released on bail at this stage, he might tamper with evidence.

Raja had sought bail, saying the Supreme Court, while granting bail to former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, had not distinguished the case of public servant from that of others.

He had submitted that he and Behura were facing similar charges of abetment, conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.

Raja’s counsel had submitted that as his client was no longer a Union cabinet minister, he could not tamper with the evidence or influence the witnesses.

Besides Raja, his private secretary R K Chandolia, Behura, DMK MP Kanimozhi, corporate honchos — Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group’s MD Gautam Doshi, ADAG group President Surendra Pipara and Senior Vice President Hari Nair, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra and Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka–are facing trial in the case.

The court has also put on trial Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Director of Cineyug Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd Karim Morani and Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal.

Besides these 14 persons, three telecom firms – Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd, are also facing trial in the case.

Raja and others have been charged for the offence of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and corruption besides criminal breach of trust that entails a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

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Sridevi has changed from what she was 15 years ago. She’s softer, more approachable. But ask her something sensitive and the wall comes up. Gently, but firmly, I am told there are certain subjects she won’t discuss. Here, she talks about her family and comeback film English Vinglish.

After 15 years (her last film being Judaai in 1997), you will be seen in a lead role in a film. Why did you stay away for so long?

I’ve been working since I was four. My life has only been about shootings, studios and home. Till marriage and motherhood happened, I was devoted to my work. I didn’t see anything beyond it. I had done my bit as an actor. After marriage, every woman wants to settle down and have children. I have no regrets. I was occupied in my little world, enjoying each and every experience that came my way.

Is it true that you want Jahnavi to act in films?

Not at all. I think people presume that because she is my daughter she has to become an actor. I feel sad when people think I’m an aggressive mother pushing her daughter to join films or lose weight. Jahnavi is health conscious, like me. I’m extremely careful about my diet and workout, and she follows me. In fact, I play tennis with both my daughters twice a week. Recently, one of the ladies at the health club told her, ‘How sad to see you here working out so hard. Your mother must make you come here and do all these things, no?’ Jahnavi was so angry. She came home and told me, ‘Mum, it’s my wish that I am coming here. I am doing it to be healthy and not because you are pushing me to become slim.’

What do you want her to do?

I don’t want her to do anything at this point besides focusing on her studies. Jahnavi is just 15 and doing well in school. I’m happy with that. She’s too young to do films. I want both my daughters to get a good education. I missed out on it as I was working from a very early age. I was good at studies, but because I became busy with films, I couldn’t complete my education.

So you have no aspirations of Jahnavi becoming an actor?

None at all! In fact, I don’t want her to become an actor. People have started presuming and even named some hero’s son as her co-star, and we had a big laugh about it. Mera bas chale toh I would get her married soon.

Who is naughtier- Khushi or Jahnavi?

Khushi. She is very mischievous!

What made you decide on English Vinglish as your comeback film?

I never decide or plan things. I would have grabbed English Vinglish if the script had come to me even five or 10 years ago. I didn’t plan this as my comeback film. It just happened. R Balki (the director) is very close to my husband Boney, and he came to me with two scripts. I heard and loved both of them. One was written by Balki and the other by his wife Gauri, and it was her script that really touched my heart the most. Any middle-class housewife will be able to identify with my character, and that’s why I felt this is the right film for me.

It’s about a housewife who learns to speak English…

It’s not just that. She’s totally devoted to her family. Her world revolves around her husband and children. But there comes a time when she has to go to New York alone. Till now, she’s always been surrounded by her family, but being alone in New York is a different experience for her. It’s about who she meets, what she does, the challenges she faces. At home in India, she has been taken for granted while taking care of her family. They don’t appreciate what she’s doing for them, as they are busy in their own worlds. When she’s not there, they come to appreciate her value. It’s a feel-good film.

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Post the stalling of The Dirty Picture’s screening on TV, the IB ministry and the CBFC had a meeting with film industry members on April 30, wherein a ‘modified for television viewing category’ was mulled over. The guidelines for the same are awaited.

According to sources, another meeting with only the CBFC and the IB ministers took place after a few days, wherein the guidelines were to be discussed and then given to the film industry.

When we spoke to the filmmakers involved, it emerged that “it’s going to be two weeks since that meeting, yet we are awaiting the guidelines. Whether The Dirty Picture will be screened on television at all or not also depends on those rules. But we have no clue, as we were not a part of the second meeting, and all we can do is wait.”

On Saturday, May 12, a third meeting was organised, with the CBFC chair Leela Samson, CBFC CEO Pankaja Thakur, regional officers and the jury members of the CBFC, film producers, trade bodies, Mahesh Bhatt, Ramesh Sippy, president of the Film and Television Producers Guild of India, guild CEO Kulmeet Makkar, Ratan Jain, Harry Baweja, Balaji CEO Tanuj Garg, and all TV channels. Ekta Kapoor was not present.

“The motive of the meeting was to discuss a ‘win-win situation’. The whole issue of U/A certified films and the government’s apprehensions came up again, to which all the film industry members proposed that any film with adult content can be given an ‘Under Parental Guidance’ label. When that film is to be shown on TV, the parents are warned that this film should not be shown to their kids without their presence or knowledge. That way, no film will ever be stopped from reaching the TV audience. They also said that they’re ready to discuss the guidelines for TV screening. However, none were given out in the meeting – it was announced that they’d be given in a few days’ time,” said Makkar, CEO, Film and Television Producers Guild of India.

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NEW DELHI: As the stir by over 200 Air India pilots entered the eighth day on Tuesday leading to cancellation of 10 international flights, government said the DGCA will take action against those who have falsely reported sick and not joined work.

Air India cancelled around 10 international flights from Delhi and Mumbai this morning.

“We have, as part of our contingency plan, operated Delhi -Toronto, Delhi-New York routes, and hope to operate more flights tonight,” an Air India spokesperson said.

With a medical summary issued by the aviation ministry stating that most of the AI pilots, who called in sick, were neither found at home by doctors sent by the airline nor reported to doctors empanelled by the carrier, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will take action against them.

“I and you don’t need any medical teams to ascertain they are sick. If they have reported sick but were found fit or not found at their houses as reported in the aviation ministry’s medical summary, then the DGCA will take necessary action against them,” Singh told reporters.

The pilots have been calling in sick and not reporting for duty in protest against rescheduling of training programme of Dreamliner and issues related to their career progression.

According to the medical summary, about 48 out of the 53 Delhi-based pilots who reported sick were not found at home. Their residences were found locked and their mobiles unreachable.

Nine out of 18 outstation pilots, who were staying at Hotel Hyatt, complained of bad stomach and backache but doctors found them medically fit.

Of the 53 homes visited by doctors, 12 were found locked. When doors were opened, the medical teams were given unclear information.

The minister said the pilots have the right to go on strike, as employees may have some grievances. “They should have discussed with us, why have they chosen to go on strike during the peak vacation season.”

Meanwhile, seven Air India unions in a letter to Singh have sought an end to the standoff between pilots and management.

Seeking Singh’s intervention, the AI unions of engineers, cabin crew, commercial staff, ground staff have blamed the merger for the ongoing crises.

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LUCKNOW: After NRHM, Noida land, toilet and canal scams during the previous Mayawati government, financial irregularities have now been found in making and installation of elephant statutes at dalit memorials. These memorials were built in Lucknow and Noida by the Mayawati government. She projected them as symbol of dalit pride.

But on Monday, police found documents during raids at office and godown of the UP State Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd (UPRNNM) which showed anomalies in tendering, payments to the sculptors and over evaluation of about 200 statutes of elephant at dalit parks and memorials. A senior police officer told TOI that the scam involving the supply, cutting and polishing of stone and statues could be worth Rs 300 crore.

The matter came to light on Saturday when Agra-based Madal Lal lodged an FIR against a contractor, Aditya Agarwal, from Lucknow who had ordered for the carving of the statutes. Lal claimed that Agarwal gave him the contract of supplying stones and installing them after carving an elephant. Lal said he was told that the official rate of one elephant statue is Rs 48 lakh but was paid only Rs 7.5 lakh for 16 statues. Acting of the complaint, police on Sunday raided Agarwal’s godown and found a statue of the elephant. Police also recovered Rs 63 lakh in cash from the basement of ‘Lucknow Marbles’, the office of Agrawal.

Agarwal, who worked for the UP State Nirman Nigam, was arrested on charges of duping Lal.

On Monday, police raided office and godowns of the UP State Nirman Nigam, a public sector construction unit of the UP government. “As per the papers seized so far, we have reached the conclusion that while the cost of each elephant statue was Rs 5.62 lakh, Agarwal used to receive an additional Rs 47 lakh for polishing and transportation of a statue. There was clearly a scam in which the officers of UPRNNL were involved. We are expecting to unearth a bigger fraud after interrogating some of the officers and contractors,” Lucknow DIG Aushotosh Pandey said.

On Monday noon, a police team reached the UPRNNL office and sought details of the tenders and work allocation related to elephant statues. During the examination of the files, the names of former UPRNN MDs CP Singh and Arvind Kumar Bhatia and three GMs H Kumar, AK Gautam and Avni Kumar cropped up. Police wrote to regional passport officer for the cancellation of their passports, Pandey told TOI.

Built at a cost of over Rs 4,000 crore, the dalit memorials have over 200 statues of elephant – 156 in Lucknow and 52 in Noida. The Election Commission had directed to cover the statutes at the time of assembly elections, as elephant is the poll symbol of BSP. It took 1.5km long polythene to cover the statutes at a cost of over Rs 1 crore. Mayawati drew flak from several quarters for spending huge amount on construction of the memorials. The money, they said, could have been used for funding schemes to uplift dalits. Mayawati also installed her own statutes in these dalit memorials.

A CBI probe into the Rs 5,700-crore scam in the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission is already underway. The scam allegedly took place during Mayawati’s rule. The Mayawati government was also pulled by the high court for acquiring land at throwaway prices from farmers and selling them to builders. Financial bungling running into crores of rupees have also been alleged in the construction of canals in Bundelkhand and toilets in rural area under total sanitation programme.

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NEW DELHI: The IPL’s governing council will have a tele-conference on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the television sting operation which claims to have blown the lid off “murky deals” in the cash-rich T20 league.

IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said strict action would be taken if any player is found to be involved in spot-fixing.

Top BCCI officials have already started discussing the issue among themselves amid indications that stern action could be taken against a few players who are shown in the TV sting operation.

“The IPL Governing Council will discuss the issue. We have asked for the tapes. We will study the tapes and then take a decision”, a top BCCI source said.

A TV channel on Monday claimed to have blown the lid off “murky deals” in the IPL among players, organisers, owners and big guns of Indian cricket, prompting the BCCI to warn that stringent action will be taken if the report is found to be true.

The channel, India TV, claimed it had done a sting operation in which many players confessed on hidden camera they get much more than their prescribed auction under the table.

According to the channel, its operation also revealed that spot-fixing is not only prevalent in IPL but also that first class matches are fixed and women played an important role in match-fixing.

Asked about the sting operation, BCCI chief N Srinivasan had said, “We will ensure that the integrity of the game is protected. BCCI believes in the integrity of the game. We will take the strictest possible action. We will have to have the tapes and the moment we see it, whoever is the player, we will take very very strict action.”

“If there is any truth in it… It is a fact that we will take strictest action. Even if it means suspending the player immediately. But (that has to be) based on some evidence and fact, for which I have asked the COO of IPL Sundar Raman to request for the tape,” Srinivasan said.

The BCCI said it will seek “complete footage” of the ‘sting operation’ and examine it thoroughly.

BCCI’s chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty said the entire incident was very disturbing and the Cricket Board would take strong action against any player found to be guilty.

Kings XI Punjab player Shalabh Srivastava, who is one of the players shown in the sting operation, vehemently denied any wrong-doing and threatened to take legal action against the channel.

“If they are showing all the video clips, why are they not showing that I have demanded Rs 10 lakhs from them. Whatever they are showing…it is not my voice. You know its very easy to doctor anyone’s image and put their names and run it”, Srivatsava said.

“I will definitely file a case against them (the channel)”, he said.

“I had just seven or eight meetings with them, and they introduced themselves as a sports management people. They told me they can help me to shift to some other franchisee where I can be paid better.”

“I am not the only one to meet them, I can tell you they have met at least 50 IPL players. I myself have talked to 15 such players about the issue. They all were doubtful that whether they are from a sports management company or not because they always used to talk about fixing and who is getting how much money,” Srivatsava said.

Mohnish Mishra of Pune Warriors, T P Sudhindra of Deccan Chargers and Amit Yadav of Kings XI Punjab were the three other players who were shown in the sting operation.

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