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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FIR filed against three individuals, website for spreading false news involving VB, ‘Op Sindoor’
Mangaluru, May 15: An FIR has been registered at the Mangaluru South Police Station against three individuals and a news website for allegedly spreading false and provocative content involving Kannada daily Vartha Bharati and "Operation Sindoor".
The complaint was lodged by B.M. Basheer, News Editor of Vartha Bharati, who sought legal action against those misusing his name, the name of the newspaper, and "Operation Sindoor" to circulate misleading and defamatory content.
According to the complaint, a Facebook post by Nithin Shamanur titled ‘Operation Sindoor: Kannada Journalist’s brother’s wife Finished’ contained false information and featured a photograph of a woman and soldiers. This same post was allegedly shared by two others — Santosh Hegade and Bettampady Chandra — on their Facebook profiles. In addition, the same content was reportedly published by the website newsputtur.com.
Basheer stated that the news being circulated is completely baseless and inflammatory, and accused the individuals involved of attempting to mislead the public. He warned that such content could spark unrest, especially in the already sensitive environment of coastal Karnataka.
“This baseless and provocative misinformation in the name of ‘Operation Sindoor’ is misleading the public and has the potential to incite unrest in society,” said Basheer in his complaint. “Given the already sensitive atmosphere in coastal Karnataka due to recent developments, such rumors are likely to further destabilize the situation.”
He demanded strict legal action against Nithin Shamanur, Santosh Hegade, Bettampady Chandra, and the editor of newsputtur.com, including registration of a criminal case and a thorough investigation into the matter.
Acting on the complaint, the Mangaluru South Police have registered an FIR against all four accused under relevant sections for allegedly spreading false, defamatory, and inflammatory content online. Further investigation is underway.
