Air Asia case: Tata Sons Board repose faith in Venkataramanan
Mumbai, June 26: The board of Tata Sons on Tuesday reposed their faith in R. Venkataramanan, who is the non-executive director and a nominee of Tata Sons on the Board of Air Asia India.
A Tata Sons statement here said its board was updated on the issues concerning Air Asia India Ltd (AAIL) pertaining to the investigations being carried out by official agencies.
"In this context, the Board expressed satisfaction that AAIL was cooperating fully with agencies investigating this matter," it said.
"The Board is aware that prior audits and forensic reports were initiated by AAIL on some of the issues being currently investigated and based on such reports there have been no findings of any wrongdoing on the part of its nominee director R. Venkataramanan."
The development comes after AirAsia India Director Venkataramanan was accused among other things of violating FDI norms in giving effective management to a foreign entity through FIPB clearance in 2013. Venkataramanan has denied the charges.
Tata Sons holds a 49 per cent stake in Air Asia India which is a public limited company.
Earlier this month, the trustees of Tata Trusts, which hold a majority stake in Tata Sons, expressed their confidence in Venkataramanan.
Last month, the CBI has named AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes and others in a criminal case of violating FDI norms in giving effective management to a foreign entity through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board's (FIPB) clearance in 2013 and attempt to bribe for tweaking rules to get a licence for its joint venture to operate international flights.
The CBI FIR also names "unknown public servants" of the Civil Aviation Ministry, the then Foreign Investment Promotion Board, Venkataramanan, Director AirAsia, the AirAsia Group Deputy CEO T. Kanagalingam alias Bo Lingam.
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No govt protection, claims actress who accused CPI(M)'s Mukesh of sexual abuse
Kochi (PTI): A 51-year-old Malayalam actress who had levelled sexual abuse allegations against several male actors, including CPI(M) MLA M Mukesh, on Friday said she was not keen on pursuing her complaints due to "lack of support and protection from the Kerala government".
The complainant also alleged "carelessness" on the part of the state government and said she was "mentally exhausted" and therefore, not keen on taking the complaints forward.
"I would like to tell everyone that due to the government's carelessness and lack of protection for a woman who has come forward like this, I have suffered more than I can handle. I am mentally exhausted. They are not helping or protecting a woman.
"Therefore, I do not want to pursue the cases. It is not because I have compromised with anyone," she told reporters.
She claimed that she was made an accused in a POCSO case following her complaints against the actors, also including Maniyanpilla Raju and Idavela Babu, and the government did nothing to protect her.
"I am innocent. I want justice. I want the POCSO case against me to be probed thoroughly and quickly. If I commit suicide, the government will be responsible for it," she said.
The Muvattupuzha police had registered the case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, against the woman actor based on a complaint lodged by her relative.
According to the police, the incident occurred in 2014. The relative has alleged that she was a minor at the time of the incident and that the actor was running a sex racket.
The actor had vehemently denied the allegations and claimed that the woman relative owed her some money, and these allegations were to shift attention from her complaint against the high-profile actors.
The actress' allegations against the actors came in the wake of the disclosure of the Justice Hema Committee report which revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry, prompting calls for action against the guilty.
The Justice Hema Committee was constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case.
The complete report was placed before the Kerala High Court which directed that it be handed over to the special investigation team (SIT) that was constituted to probe complaints of sexual abuse in the film industry.
Subsequently, 26 FIRs were registered by the SIT in connection with the revelations in the report.
