सहारा इंडिया निवेशकों के लिए रिफंड प्रक्रिया में महत्वपूर्ण अपडेट आया है, जिसमें पैसा जल्द ही ट्रांसफर होने की संभावना है।

Highlights

• रिफंड प्रक्रिया में तेजी आई है।
• 5 लाख तक का क्लेम कर सकते हैं।
• सरकार ने 100% रिफंड की गारंटी दी है।
• अगर क्लेम रिजेक्ट हुआ है, तो दोबारा सबमिट कर सकते हैं।
• अगस्त से पहले भुगतान की उम्मीद है।
• आधार नंबर से स्टेटस चेक करें।
•  KYC अपडेट करना जरूरी है।

Key Insights

• रिफंड प्रक्रिया में तेजी: मई से भुगतान की प्रक्रिया शुरू होने के बाद, निवेशकों को जल्द ही पैसा मिलने की उम्मीद है। यह एक सकारात्मक विकास है।
• 5 लाख तक का क्लेम: निवेशक अब अधिकतम 5 लाख रुपये का क्लेम कर सकते हैं, जिससे अधिक लोगों को लाभ होगा।
• सरकार की गारंटी: भाजपा सरकार ने रिफंड प्रक्रिया में 100% गारंटी दी है, जो निवेशकों की चिंता को कम कर सकती है।
• री-सबमिशन की सुविधा: अगर किसी का क्लेम पहले रिजेक्ट हुआ है, तो वे उसे दोबारा सबमिट कर सकते हैं, जिससे संभावनाएं बढ़ती हैं।
• समय सीमा: अगस्त से पहले भुगतान की प्रक्रिया को तेजी से पूरा करने का प्रयास किया जा रहा है, जिससे निवेशकों को शीघ्र राहत मिलेगी।
• स्टेटस चेक करने की प्रक्रिया: निवेशकों को आधार नंबर का उपयोग करके अपने रिफंड की स्थिति चेक करने की सलाह दी गई है।
• KYC की अनिवार्यता: निवेशकों को KYC को अपडेट करने की आवश्यकता को ध्यान में रखते हुए, यह सुनिश्चित करना होगा कि उनके विवरण सही हैं।

The Essar Group has denied it has any links with the Deepak Kochhar-promoted NuPower Renewables, the Mauritius-based DH Renewables or First Land Holdings.

Essar has not made any investments in First Land or NuPower. Further, Essar entities have business dealings with Matix Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. on arm’s length basis, and these have no connection whatsoever with NuPower a statement issued by the Essar Group said.

In a report on Monday, Hindustan Times had said Investigative agencies are looking at whether DH Renewables Holding Ltd, the Mauritius-based special purpose vehicle of Accion Diversified Fund that is the major shareholder in NuPower Renewables, is related in any way, directly or indirectly, to the Essar Group.

The newspaper also quoted an unnamed tax officer in its report, saying: “From being a minority shareholder in NuPower, DH Renewables’ holding has risen to over 54 per cent. This happened because successive shareholders have offloaded their stake in NuPower to DH.

The report said DH Renewables also “stepped in” when Firstland Holdings, promoted by the son-in-law of Essar Group’s Ravi Ruia, “wanted to sell its stake in the company”.

When IANS reached out to an Income Tax (I-T) official, he said: “There are many reports that flow in. But I-T department cannot comment on it while the investigations are on.”

NuPower has been on the radar of investigative agencies since news reports raised questions about the chairman of Videocon Venugopal Dhoot giving a loan of Rs 64 crore to the firm he had jointly promoted with Deepak Kochhar, husband of ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar, six months after his group received a Rs 3,250 crore loan from ICICI.

The Income Tax Department has so far sent two notices to Kochhar. On April 30, it sent a notice under Section 139(9) of the Income Tax Act seeking an explanation on his personal income. IT had earlier sent a notice in the first week of April to NuPower Renewables, which was formed in December 2008.

Sources earlier told IANS that the Foreign Tax Division of the department has written to the authorities in Mauritius seeking details of the ownership of DH Renewables Holding Ltd, a major shareholder in NuPower Renewables.

The CBI has registered a preliminary inquiry against Kochhar, Videocon Group officials and others to determine any wrongdoing or otherwise in the sanction of the loan to the Videocon group by the ICICI Bank as part of a consortium of banks in 2012.

The Essar tape

Essar group was allegedly involved in tapping the phone conversations of many individuals, politicians, businessmen and many other prominent personalities. They had allegedly tapped the phone conversations to get first-hand note policy decisions among others. The tapping of phones is believed to be done to overhear conversations about how businessmen reach out to politicians for favors In response to this the government has sought a legal opinion on how this issue can be handled.

A brief about ESSAR 

It is an Indian multinational conglomerate who have investments in steel, energy, manufacturing, services and retail. Shashi Ruia and Ravi Ruia are the chairman and vice chairman respectively.

TIMES NOW, Hindustan Times and many others force resignations 

Two senior journalists whose names were mentioned in the complaint resigned on Friday and a third one was put on notice by her organization. Sandeep Bamzai of Mail Today and Anupama Airy of Hindustan Times were two Editors who were forced to resign after serious allegations were made against them. Meetu Jain of Times Now is under investigation for having asked Essar for a car in the name of local use while being employed at CNN-IBN news channel in 2012. 

Hindustan Times Editor-in-Chief Sanjoy Narayan said: “Prima facie the accusation is a serious violation of basic ethical standards, and of the trust that our readers place in us. We, therefore, had no choice but to suspend Ms. Airy with immediate effect, pending an inquiry into her conduct. She has chosen to resign rather than participate in the process. Her resignation has been accepted.”

Tapping of phones for over a decade 

Soaked in controversy, the Essar Group finds itself cornered in the alleged nexus of top-level officials-politicians, bureaucrats, and journalists. A year ago when the nightmare began, emails containing the draft budget proposals (documents of 2012 and 2013) had surfaced thereby incriminating those in possession of this confidential material. Denials from officials abounded as they made statements implying that the documents were in the public domain. The Supreme Court’s involvement began with a PIL filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, a non-profit organization, with Mr. Prashant Bhushan at the forefront. The lawyer has alleged in a complaint to the Prime Minister that between the years 2001 and 2006 several phones of cabinet ministers, corporate leaders, and PMO staff of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had been tapped by the group.

Other noticeable personalities 

Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Praful Patel, Ram Naik, Suresh Prabhu, Piyush Goyal and Amitabh Bachchan were amongst the list of big names that were under the scanner of the Essar group. The evidence in support of the illegal interception by Essar includes handwritten diaries and time logs.

Who is Basit Khan? 

Albasit Khan, a former head of security at Essar who is now a whistleblower, seems to have been the supervisor of this secretive surveillance activity. He was formerly employed in UAE and he is known to be an expert in high-end security, a primary reason for which he was allegedly recruited by Essar. Ravikant Ruja had allegedly told Albasit Khan that the company was a telecom licensee for cellular operations under M/s Hutchinson Essar and is hence obligated to serve the government in their investigations through intercepting and tapping phones. Basit Khan was eventually fired by Essar in 2011, an action which irked Basit Khan as he claims the entire phone tapping was done at the behest of their employers as the tapping were done from, According to Outlook, from the ground floor and basement of Essar House in Mumbai and the guest house in Delhi. 

The audio cassettes used for surveillance contain series of conversations of strategic importance. Allegations are pouring over numerous corporate and bureaucratic leaders of the country with reference to the interceptions that have surfaced. We hope the Supreme Court resolves the case soon and bring all parties involved to justice. The Essar Group has refuted the claims of Uppal, while the Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group has sought full probe into the matter.

Those sent to police custody till Feb 24 are RIL corporate affairs manager Shailesh Saxena, Jubilant Energy senior executive Subash Chandra, Reliance ADAG DGM Rishi Anand, Essar DGM Vinay and Cairns India GM K.K. Naik.

All were arrested Friday and booked under sections dealing with criminal conspiracy and use of stolen property. Their arrest took to 12 the number of those behind bars in the case.

The court had Friday sent three of the seven other accused to judicial custody for 14 days. The remaining four had been sent to police custody of three days.

The espionage case in the heart of the national capital assumed a wider dimension Friday after police complaint said the papers stolen included inputs for the forthcoming union budget and a letter relating to the prime minister’s office.

The documents also related to the power and coal ministries, police said.

Former journalist Santanu Saikia, who is among the arrested, said Saturday it was a Rs.10,000 crore scam.

“It’s a Rs.10,000 crore scam and it was a cover up,” Saikia told reporters outside the Crime Branch office here, while being taken to court.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lauded police for cracking the case and advised it to trace those who had benefited from leaked information.”Compliments Delhi police for bursting espionage racket. During interrogations, police should try to reach top people, who would benefit from leaked information,” he tweeted Saturday.

Police had Thursday announced arrest of five people, including two petroleum ministry employees, for stealing documents from the ministry office located in the high-security Shastri Bhawan near the Parliament House complex, and leaking them to corporate houses.

Saikia and Prayas Jain, a Melbourne-based energy consultant, were arrested Friday. Later in the day, the five executives were arrested.

Police Saturday raided the Patel Nagar office of Jain and Chandra’s office in Noida.

Police officials said that Chandra’s office and some other rooms were searched to recover stolen documents.

They also said that Saxena had in his possession some documents relating to “national importance and security” and these had been passed by him to his seniors.

All documents seized are “sensitive”, an official said.

Rajnath Singh told reporters that strong action will be taken and no guilty person would be spared.

“We should be commended as we found out that this was happening, the culprits will be punished,” he told reporters.”If we would have not been vigilant, this (scandal) would not have been busted,” he added.

Rakesh Kumar, 30, Lalta Prasad, 36 – both brothers and residents of Delhi, and Raj Kumar Chaubey, 39, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, were held red-handed with photocopies of some secret documents in Shastri Bhawan Feb 17.

Based on information provided by them, government employees Asharam, 58, and Ishwar Singh, 56 were also arrested. They were part of the multi-tasking staff (MTS) in Shastri Bhawan.

The FIR details how the “secret papers” were photocopied after office hours by Kumar and Prasad, who used duplicate keys to open offices after entering Shastri Bhawan with forged identity cards and temporary passes obtained fraudulently.

The photocopies were passed on to Saikia and Jain.

While Ishwar Singh, Asharam and Chaubey are in judicial custody, all others have been sent to police custody.

Essar Power is already under the scanner of CAG for the coal blocks allotted to it for Mahan and Tori projects. Last month, the Inter Ministerial Group of government on coal blocks had de-allocated two other coal mines belonging to the group.

This charge-sheet against Navbharat Power is an insight into Essar’s murky dealings. The group acquiring access to a coal block through acquisition of Navbharat Power seems suspiciously similar to the CBI charge Essar is facing in respect of acquisition of spectrum through a front company, Loop Telecom. In both cases, Essar appears to have used these little known companies with inadequate net worth to corner natural resources in a circuitous way.

We have been trying to highlight such crony capitalism while demanding cancellation of the Mahan coal block (Singrauli district in Madhya Pradesh) jointly allocated to Hindalco and Essar in suspicious circumstances. In 2006, during the ‘Coalgate’ era, the Mahan coal block was allocated to the joint venture following an abrupt and unexplained change in the positions of the Screening Committee, which had initially rejected Essar’s application.

Essar Power are currently facing the groundswell protest in Mahan from the local communities who are determined not to allow the Mahan forests to be mined in spite of the Stage II clearances granted by the Veerappa Moily led Environment Ministry recently.The in-principal Stage I clearance was granted to Mahan coal block in 2012 with 36 conditions, which included implementation of Forest Rights Act (FRA).

This involved holding free and fair Gram Sabhas in villages that would then decide on whether they want a mine or not. On 6th March 2013, a special Gram Sabha on FRA was conducted in Amelia village in Mahan region.

Though 184 people attended the Gram Sabha, the resolution has 1,125, signatures – villagers say that most of them have been forged. Nine of the signatories have been dead for three years. Besides this, 27 residents of Amelia have given written testimonies that they were not present during the Gram Sabha.

According to sources, Ruia was quizzed extensively about Essar Group’s alleged links with Loop Telecom and various other front companies that reportedly held stakes in Loop Telecom on his behalf. He was also questioned about the allegation that Loop Telecom acted as front company for Essar, which has nearly 33 percent stake in the Vodafone-Essar joint venture. As per Department of Telecommunications (DoT) guidelines, a firm can’t hold more than 10 percent stake in two service operators.

But what could upset the applecart for Essar and its claim that it doesn’t hold equity more than 9.9 percent in Loop Telecom is the status report (TEHELKA has a copy of it) prepared by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) based on a complaint forwarded by the Central Vigilance Commissioner. What is shocking is that the probe by ED’s Mumbai zonal office reveals that Essar, through convoluted holdings, owns more than 10 percent stake in Loop Telecom.

ED officials came across various discrepancies and allegations against front companies, chiefly against Santa Securities, widely believed to be a front for the Ruias. Kiran Khaitan, sister of Shashi Ruia, owned Santa Securities. There were allegations that it was an associate company of Essar into which the latter has pumped in more than Rs 1,000 crore.

After a preliminary probe, ED sent directives to five companies — Loop Mobile, BPL Communications, Essar investments, Essar Teleholdings and Santa Trading.

Based on the findings and a detailed analysis of the reply sent by these companies, ED officials discovered that Santa Trading was a company of Khaitans, who are relatives of Ruias and have a substantial stake in Loop Telecom.

What gave further credence to the allegation was that it was merged with Loop Mobile Holdings India Ltd, previously known as BPL Communications. And BPL communications, one of the holding companies of Loop Mobile, has close to 70 percent stake in it, with Loop Telecom being the other major stakeholder with 21.9 percent.

What is interesting in this arrangement is Loop Mobile holds 51.95 percent shares of Loop Telecom, thereby giving Khaitans a sizable presence in it. Around 27 percent shares of Loop Telecom are held by Kaif Investment and Aasni Multitrade.

One of the ED’s interesting findings was in all five companies there was crossholding of shares by the entities and various Mauritius-based companies such as Capital Global, Gypsy Rover, Deccan Asian infrastructure, Inditel Holdings, Black Lion and Aidtel Holdings. The registered address of Capital Global is the same as that of Essar companies based in Mauritius.

In its status report, the ED wrote that “since the shareholding pattern of the companies indicate a substantial stake owned or controlled by the Ruia family and the relatives, there appears to be substance in the allegation that Essar has more stake in Loop Telecom through other fronts”.

During the probe, it was revealed that Kaif Investment is the only direct investor from abroad. However, it emerged that many overseas entities have indirect investment in Loop Telecom. They are Deccan Asia Infrastructure (Mauritius) Ltd, Indital Holdings, Black Lion Ltd, Aidtel Holdings (Mauritius) Ltd, Capital Global Ltd and Gypsy Rover. The ED is investigating the source of funding and ownership pattern of these firms.

The ED had also written to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about reports that the bank had issued clean chits to Loop Telecom. The RBI replied that there are no violations as far as foreign investment policy is concerned. it added that the DoT would be in a better position to answer whether the telecom policy was violated.

Interestingly, it says, “Through a series of transaction involving Santa Trading, BPL communications, Loop Mobile and Loop Telecom, Essar Group has acquired indirect stake in Loop Mobile and Loop Telecom, circumnavigating the telecom policy and escaping the DoT’s regulatory purview.”

ED investigation reveals that Essar owns more than 10 percent stake in Loop Telecom

The ED has issued fresh directives to all these companies directing them to furnish more information. Apart from that, all the relevant Indian entities have been asked to furnish their complete profiles and details of subsidiaries and their respective parent companies.

THE STATUS report has also been shared with CBI and other investigating agencies involved in the 2G scam probe. Apart from the ED, the CBI has also issued a letter rogatory to the Mauritius government asking for information about 11 companies, including Kaif Investment.

However, this is not the only cause of Essar’s worries. According to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report, in which CBI has filed a case in 2009, Shipping Stop Dot com (india), later changed to Loop Telecom, had submitted its applications for grant of Unified Access Services (UAS) licences for 21 service areas on 3 September 2007 to DoT. However, the company changed the main object clauses to include the telecom sector to meet the eligibility criteria only on 28 September 2007.

When contacted, Essar Group denied all the allegations. “Essar has no direct shareholding in Loop Telecom,” says Essar Group spokesman Parikshit Kaul. “We have an indirect equity interest in Loop Telecom of less than 10 percent as permitted under UAS guidelines as on the date of application and at all times thereafter.”