E XC LU S I V E PA R T N E R

Egyptians want nations money back

The new challenge is to recover assets that Mubarak siphoned off in last 3 decades > P17

IN LOVE AND READY SEBI PROBING TO SAY I DO STOCK CRASH

The Capital is more open than ever to marrying for love

HT CITY

BUSINESS
25 entities under scanner for suspected foul play > P23

SPORT

Spinner cheats on Liz Hurley with a porn star

WARNIE IS AT IT AGAIN

>P19

hindustantimes.com

New Delhi / METRO Vol. LXXXVII No. 38

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2011

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&
BUDGET POLL

Hindustan Times in partnership with NDTV invites readers to participate in a poll on key budget issues before the finance minister. >> SEE HT BUSINESS, P23

Sun TV shone on Aircel deal?

ht EXCLUSIVE
Manoj Gairola
manoj.gairola@hindustantimes.com

F O

R W A V

EXPOSED Maran slammed for delaying licences

SCENT OF ANOTHER SCAM
April 2004: Telecom service
provider Dishnet Wireless Ltd (DWL) applies for licences to operate in Uttar Pradesh May: Dayanidhi Maran becomes telecom minister in UPA-1 Aug: PS to minister seeks clarifications. One-man panel justice Shivraj Patil says these were vague and irrelevant

2G spectrum scam
Press Trust of India
letters@hindustantimes.com

The right start CBI TO QUIZ SHOURIE ON TELECOM POLICY

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The CBI has

4 DAYS TO GO

abillion dreams

NEW DELHI:

INDIAS GOT THE LOOKS

If they can handle the pressure of expectations, India can surely go all the way. >> P20

stratedgy

Travelling numbers

Not expected to be a game changer, mobile number portability is nonetheless getting huge attention from all the service providers
>> P25

Astro, a sister concern of Malaysian billionaire T Ananda Krishnan-owned Aircel, invested R675 crore in the Maran family-owned Sun TVs DTH venture within four months of getting spectrum in Dishnet Wireless (Now Aircel). It took Dishnet two years and seven months before it could get its licences in new circles. The January 31 justice Shivraj V Patil report said the clarification sought by the authorities leading to delay in grant of licences, were not warranted in terms of the laid down procedure. Although Dishnet had applied for licences in April 2004 (in two circles) and in March 2005 (in the remaining five circles), it got them only in November 1, 2006. According to department of telecommunications (DoT) guidelines of 2003, these licences should have been issued within a month of application. The report says DoT, under specific instructions from the

Dayanidhi Maran

T Ananda Krishnan

Nov 2006: Letters of intent for licences issued to DWL Feb 2007: South Asia Entertainment Holdings Ltd, an arm of Astro, owned by a sister concern of Maxis, gets CCEA approval to invest R675 crore in Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd, owned by Maran family
holding licence elsewhere particularly in Tamil Nadu and Chennai; status of newspaper reports regarding sale of applicant or its sister concerns; verification whether applicant/its sister concerns having licences were later sold to another licence/entity and legal implications of allegation of company having violated certain licence conditions.
CONTINUED ON P12 >> SCAM BREWING AT ISRO? P8

March 1, 2005: DWL applies

for licences in four more circles March 30: DWL files returned Dec 31: DWL changes owners. T Ananda Krishnan-owned Maxis becomes new owner

communications ministers office, delayed granting the licences by asking irrelevant and vague questions. The minister during this period from May 2004 to May 2007 was the DMKs Dayanidhi Maran. The report said, On August 24, 2004, PS (private secretary) to the minister put up a note that he had been directed to seek clarification as to financial/equity between the applicant and its sister concerns

asked former telecom minister Arun Shourie to appear before the agency in connection with its probe into possible criminal aspects in the telecom policy since 2001 and the BJP leader will make his appearance on February 21. The Central Bureau of Investigation approached Shourie last week, asking him to appear before it in connection with the preliminary enquiry (PE) registered by the agency on the directions of the Supreme Court. Shourie had held the telecom portfolio between January 2003 and May 2004 in the NDA regime. BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said the party had nothing to hide and was open to an enquiry. He, however, said he differed with Shouries comments that he had informed top BJP leaders like Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj about the 2G scam in 2007 but they had kept quiet. We raised this issue in Parliament and outside... I disagree with Shouries comments.

Raina and Sreesanth appeal for Pontings dismissal during a warm-up match against Australia in Bangalore on Sunday. India won by 38 runs. >> REPORT P19 MOHD ZAKIR/ HT PHOTO

Advani stokes Jinnah fire

HT Correspondent
letters@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI: Six

years after rubbing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) the wrong way by remarking in Pakistan that its founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, was secular, BJP leader LK Advani has hinted that he hasnt changed his position on the matter. Commending a recent book written by senior journalist MJ Akbar on Pakistan, titled Tinderbox, Advani approvingly quoted the authors perception that there is little support

THE BJP LEADER HAS PRAISED MJ AKBAR FOR SAYING PAKISTAN, IF IT FOLLOWS JINNAHS VISION, CAN BE SECULAR
for Islamists in Pakistan and that the neighbouring country can still become a secular state if it overcomes its challenges from Islamist radicals. Advani quotes Akbar in a blog: Pakistan can become a stable, modern nation, but only if the children of the father of

Pakistan, Jinnah, can defeat the ideological heirs of the godfather, Maududi. Advani writes in the blog: This book makes this perceptive observation: The debate in Pakistan about the role of Islam in its polity began while Jinnah was still alive. The father of Pakistan was challenged by the godfather of Pakistan, Maulana Maududi, founder of the Jamaate-Islami, and accurately described as the architect of the Islamist movement in South Asia and the most powerful influence on its development worldwide.
CONTINUED ON P12

short stories

10,000 TROOPS OUT OF J&K

NEW DELHI: The

SAW SC JUDGE TAKE BRIBE: CONGRESS MP

HT Correspondent

letters@hindustantimes.com

Rahat held at Delhi airport with $50,000

SOUR NOTE The Pakistani singer was also carrying cheques worth $18,000
HT Correspondent

Centre plans to withdraw nearly 10,000 paramilitary personnel from Jammu and Kashmir this year, as it feels that the state can do with less central forces. There is scope for reduction of troops in the home ministrys view. There are more than adequate forces in Kashmir, home secretary GK Pillai said. PTI

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A

100 Delhi kids go missing in 12 days

NEW DELHI: One hundred

children have been reported missing from Delhi in the first 12 days of February a record, according to the Delhi Police statistics. Of the 100 children who have gone missing, 65 are girls. Last month, 122 children went missing, 64 of them girls. P2

comment

COME ONE, COME ALL

Valentines Day is no more for those in or wishing for an intimate relationship. All goes in the heart mart now >> P10

Congress MP from Kerala made a sensational statement on Saturday, claiming he had in 1996 seen a Supreme Court judge accept a bribe of R21 lakh to revoke a Kerala high court verdict. K Sudhakaran, MP from Kannur, made the claim on Saturday at a reception for former minister R Balakrishna Pillai, who was sentenced to a years rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court on Thursday in a corruption case concerning the building of a dam. Sudhakaran, a lawyer, however did not name the judge. I was witness to a judge accepting a bribe of R21 lakh from bar owners to revoke a Kerala high court verdict which cancelled bar licences of 21 owners, he said. I was in the Supreme Court to fight (a case). When my friend told me about a particular judge, I couldn't believe it. Then he asked me to join his team to witness the whole incident. Seeing was believing, the MP said. He added that the judge later asked for R15 lakh more through an intermediary. Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan said it was Sudhakaran's duty to name the judge.

letters@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI:

Popular Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, 37, was detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Sunday for allegedly carrying a huge amount of undeclared foreign currency. The Bollywood playback singer is a nephew of Pakistani singing legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. We are questioning Rahat Ali Khans event manager to get to the bottom of the matter and after getting all the facts, we will decide on the future course of action, said RK Sharma, additional director general, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). Khan was taking an Emirates flight to Lahore when DRI officials intercepted him. Khan allegedly didn't declare the foreign currency at any immigration counter, a senior official said. Both Khan and his manager were detained and questioned at the airport by DRI and customs officials. Both Khan and Maruf were

Khan: Facing the music

carrying $50,000 (R23 lakh) each in their check-in baggage and Marufs cabin baggage also had $24,000, said the official. Apart from this, they also had $18,000 worth of bank cheques, he said. According to the Customs Act, passengers arriving in India can bring back $5,000 in cash and $5,000 in travellers cheques or drafts without having to make any declaration. Thus the total amount that can be brought in without requiring declaration is $10,000. If a passenger carries more than this amount, he or she has to prove that it's been acquired through legal means.

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Summer break is cut short

Mallica Joshi
mallica.joshi@hindustantimes.com

S H I F T

FORECAST: A cloudy sky, chance of a few spells of rain/thunderstorm.

India weather report, P 6

NEW DELHI: Januarys biting cold

TODAY: 42 pages, including 14 pages of HT City. (Area-specific Lives and add-on supplement pages are extra). * Jodi Price in Faridabad & Ghaziabad along with Hindustan R 5.00

just shrunk Delhi schools summer break. Vacation plans will need to be reworked as all the government and governmentaided schools will now break for summer from May 11, and not May 1, as is the practice. Winter holidays, according to a circular issued by the directorate of education, will be longer from December 26 to January 15. The break usually ended on January 2. During the past few years we have seen that winter has become much harsher in January. This year we had to extend vacations till the second week of January, so we

To beat the chill and fog, winter holidays get longer. FILE PHOTO

changed the annual calendar, Delhi education minister Arvinder Singh said. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Canton-

ment Board, and unaided recognised schools, too, have been advised to follow the calendar. Most private schools close in mid-May so it wont affect them much, said Ameeta M Wattal, secretary, National Progressive School Conference and principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road. It was for the schools to decide on the winter vacations, she said. Other schools such as Tagore International School, and Air Force Bal Bharati are also planning the switch. We, too, had planned to start summer vacations late and have a longer winter break, said Maneka Sharma, principal, Shri Ram School, Vasant Vihar.