Radia Tapes Controversy

R a d i a T a p e s

By Abhi Parmar

What is Radia Tapes Controversy ?

• Nira Radia- A Corporate lobbyist, PR Firm (Vaishnavi Communications)

• Clients- Tata Teleservices, Reliance Industries (Mukesh Ambani)

• Controversy- 181 leaked audio recordings with transcripts Between Nira & high profile people.

How it Started

• Authorisation from the Home Ministry.

• Indian Income Tax department tapped Radia's phone lines for 300 days in 2008–2009.

• As part of ITD’s investigations into possible money laundering, restricted financial practices, and tax evasion.

People Involved• Nira Radia, A Corporate lobbyist, PR Firm Owner• Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP, DMK• A. Raja, Former Telecom minister • Ratan Tata, Entrepreneur • Mukesh Ambani, Entrepreneur• Kalanithi Maran, Entrepreneur• Barkha Dutt, Journalist• M.K. Venu, Journalist• Prabhu Chawla, Journalist• Shankar Aiyar, Journalist• Vir Sanghvi, Journalist• Ranjan Bhattacharya, Politician, Foster son-in-law of Atal Behari

Vajpayee)• Suhel Seth, Brand Manager

Political lobbying• Radia lobbied against the reappointment of Dayanidhi

Maran.• Radia spoke with Ms. Barkha Dutt at 0948 IST

Barkha Dutt: 'The stalemate (between Congress and DMK) continues, ya...’ Nira Radia: 'my honest advice is that you tell them (Congress) that they need to tell him (Karunanidhi) directly... Barkha Dutt: 'OK, let me talk to them'.

• Conversation at 1047 IST

Barkha Dutt: (To Congress) It was 'not a problem' and that she would talk to Ghulam (Nabi Azad).

Media blackout and reactions in social media

• News gained prominence on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.

• Handful of newspapers openly wrote about the tapes.

• After becoming International news more and more media houses covered the story.

Protests and Developments

• Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi, others refuted the allegations.

• M.K.Venu filed a criminal defamation case against Outlook magazine for being mentioning on its cover.

• Barkha Dutt defended her reputation through Twitter:

"Struck by the bizarre irony of being accused of favouring a man I have never met (A. Raja) and have always attacked in print and on TV. Gnite!"

Barkha Dutt & Nira Radia Conversations

Vir Sanghvi & Nira Radia Conversations

Ranjan Bhattacharya

Nira Radia & Prabhu Chawla Conversations