JOIN USThe CBI has registered an FIR against former executive director of Antrix Corporation Ltd (the commercial arm of Isro) K R Sreedhara Murthi and also against some Devas officials charging them with having caused losses to Antrix to the tune of Rs 578 crore.
In the Antrix-Devas deal, spectrum was reportedly allotted and sold way below market prices. The CBI raided the premises of Murthi and the Devas office here on Wednesday. Devas officials M G Chandrashekar and R Vishwanath were in charge when the controversy broke out.
An inquiry headed by former chief vigilance commissioner Pratyush Sinha in 2012 had concluded that, “There have been not only serious administrative and procedural lapses but also suggestion of the collusive behaviour on part of certain individuals.”
An earlier inquiry headed by former cabinet secretary B K Chaturvedi had given a clean chit to Antrix officials stating that there was no mala fide intention in any of the decisions taken by Murthi and colleagues. But the Sinha panel specifically indicted former Isro chief G Madhavan Nair, former scientific secretary A Bhaskaranarayana, Murthi and former senior scientist K N Shankara as responsible for “various acts of commissions.”
They have already been “blacklisted” by the Department of Space, which has not ruled out further criminal or other charges in future.
The principle of “first come, first served” deployed by A Raja for 2G spectrum allocation was reportedly followed by space scientists while allocating S-band transponders and spectrum to Devas.