radia tapes controversy
TRANSCRIPT
R a d i a T a p e s
By Abhi Parmar
What is Radia Tapes Controversy ?
• Nira Radia- A Corporate lobbyist, PR Firm (Vaishnavi Communications)
• Clients- Tata Teleservices, Reliance Industries (Mukesh Ambani)
• Controversy- 181 leaked audio recordings with transcripts Between Nira & high profile people.
How it Started
• Authorisation from the Home Ministry.
• Indian Income Tax department tapped Radia's phone lines for 300 days in 2008–2009.
• As part of ITD’s investigations into possible money laundering, restricted financial practices, and tax evasion.
People Involved• Nira Radia, A Corporate lobbyist, PR Firm Owner• Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP, DMK• A. Raja, Former Telecom minister • Ratan Tata, Entrepreneur • Mukesh Ambani, Entrepreneur• Kalanithi Maran, Entrepreneur• Barkha Dutt, Journalist• M.K. Venu, Journalist• Prabhu Chawla, Journalist• Shankar Aiyar, Journalist• Vir Sanghvi, Journalist• Ranjan Bhattacharya, Politician, Foster son-in-law of Atal Behari
Vajpayee)• Suhel Seth, Brand Manager
Political lobbying• Radia lobbied against the reappointment of Dayanidhi
Maran.• Radia spoke with Ms. Barkha Dutt at 0948 IST
Barkha Dutt: 'The stalemate (between Congress and DMK) continues, ya...’ Nira Radia: 'my honest advice is that you tell them (Congress) that they need to tell him (Karunanidhi) directly... Barkha Dutt: 'OK, let me talk to them'.
• Conversation at 1047 IST
Barkha Dutt: (To Congress) It was 'not a problem' and that she would talk to Ghulam (Nabi Azad).
Media blackout and reactions in social media
• News gained prominence on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.
• Handful of newspapers openly wrote about the tapes.
• After becoming International news more and more media houses covered the story.
Protests and Developments
• Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi, others refuted the allegations.
• M.K.Venu filed a criminal defamation case against Outlook magazine for being mentioning on its cover.
• Barkha Dutt defended her reputation through Twitter:
"Struck by the bizarre irony of being accused of favouring a man I have never met (A. Raja) and have always attacked in print and on TV. Gnite!"
Barkha Dutt & Nira Radia Conversations
Vir Sanghvi & Nira Radia Conversations
Ranjan Bhattacharya
Nira Radia & Prabhu Chawla Conversations