Abducted Collector: 7 demands, no deadline, talks on 20th?

Bhubaneshwar:  NDTV has learnt that there may be talks with Maoists in Orissa through mediators as early as Sunday to secure the release of Malkangiri's District Collector R Vineel Krishna and a junior engineer.

In a four-page letter issued to media houses late last night, the Maoists have named three people as mediators. This has led authorities to believe that the Maoists have extended the 48-hour deadline they had set when they kidnapped the two men.

The letter also spells out seven demands for their release. Top among those demands are the withdrawal of Central forces from Malkangiri, a complete end to Operation Greenhunt, and the release of arrested Maoists.

The Maoists also say that Vineel Krishna has been a part of the 'repressive regime' in Orissa, and is therefore, not above the board despite claims that he was working for the poor.

The letter, faxed to media houses in Orissa, is the first confirmation that the abduction has been carried out by the CPI Maoists.

Meanwhile, the Orissa Assembly witnessed a huge uproar today with the Opposition demanding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's resignation over the abduction of the Collector.

The state government yesterday halted anti-Maoist operations throughout Orissa. They also said they were ready to talk to the Maoists.

Krishna was kidnapped by Maoists on Thursday when he was returning after an interaction programme in Gumma block of tribal-dominated Malkangiri district. The Maoists then set a 48-hour deadline for the Central forces to be withdrawn from the district and their jailed cadres released.

2G spectrum scam: CBI raids DMK-owned Kalaignar TV office

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Chennai:  The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today raided the office of Kalaignar TV, a Chennai-based channel closely linked to the DMK, as part of its investigations into the 2G scam.

The raids were carried out at midnight and then at 5 am and are in connection with the money trail in the 2G scam. The CBI suspects that some amount of payoffs in the scam may have been diverted to the channel.

The investigating agency had alleged last week that a Rs. 200-crore cheque was sent from Mumbai to Chennai in 2009 which ended up with Kalaignar TV, which is owned largely by the family of M Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.  His second wife, MK Dayaluammal, owns 60 per cent stake in the channel and his daughter Kanimozhi owns another 20 per cent.

The money, the CBI alleged, was paid to former Telecom Minister A Raja by Shahid Balwa, a promoter of DB Realty and Swan Telecom, which was allegedly one of the two major beneficiaries of Raja's spectrum largesse when he was minister. Swan Telecom was granted its license for a little over Rs. 1500 crores and it later sold stake to Etisalat, a Dubai-based firm, for nearly Rs. 4,200 crores. 

CBI sources allege that the DB Group first transferred the money to Morani Brothers' owned event management company Cineyug Films, which then forwarded it to Kalaignar.

The CBI had told a court recently, "It has also come to light that there was a transaction of Rs. 214 crore from M/s Cineyug Films private limited to Kalaignar TV in 2009.

"The funds were arranged by M/s Cineyug Films from DB Group companies wherein the family members of Balwa are the directors or shareholders", CBI had said in its application filed before the court.

Kalaignar TV clarified that Cineyug invested the money for buying Kalaingar's shares, which later fell through due to differences in valuation, following which Kalaingar TV treated that money as a loan and repaid it with a 31 crore interest.