Letters surface to show PM was in the loop of S-band scam

Devas Multimedia's letters to PMO written in 2010 blow the cover

GN Bureau | February 11, 2011


Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh

The farce could not have been sustained for too long. And it has indeed been nailed conclusively. Even as the prime minister's office (PMO) feigned ignorance of the S-band spectrum allocation for proverbial peanuts to a private entity, Devas Multimedia, which led to possibly the largest of losses to the exchequer in a single deal, the company in question has proved that it did keep the PMO in the loop.

Two letters, dated September 2 and October 29 2010 respectively and addressed to Prithviraj Chavan, the then minister of science and technology, in the prime minister's office, prove that the deal could not have happened without the PMO's clearance.

In its initial estimates, the comptroller and auditor general has pegged losses to the exchequer at Rs 2 lakh crore on account of allotment of the S-band spectrum to Devas Multimedia without bidding.

See original Devas documents attached below

Comments

 

Other News

STHAVAR: Why every Indian built asset needs a permanent digital identity

India has built digital systems for identity, payments, taxation, documents, logistics and public services. State governments, ministries, infrastructure agencies and urban local bodies have also created portals for land records, building permissions, project monitoring, property taxation and municipal s

Saksham Skill census identifies 22,000 job-ready candidates in one Mumbai ward

A first-of-its-kind AI-enabled skill census conducted in Mumbai`s H-West Ward has identified a potential livelihood pipeline of nearly 22,000 candidates, generated over 32,000 provisional job matches while revealing that 71.2 per cent of surveyed homemakers are willing to join the workforce, according to

GI tags: Scaling traditional wealth into global brands

Geographical Indication (GI) tags have emerged as a powerful tool for protecting India`s cultural heritage, while creating economic opportunities for local communities. By linking products to their place of origin, GI tags preserve traditional knowledge, prevent misuse, and enhance consumer trust. They h

BMC: 207 officials in ACB net, 112 still on duty, 68 retire before justice catches up

There are significant delays in the handling of corruption cases involving officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a Right to Information (RTI) response obtained by rights activist Jeetendra Ghadge has revealed. As of 30 April 2026, 207 BMC officials face Anti-Corruption Bureau (A

The transformation trap: Why efficiency is not innovation

Every company is transforming, or so it claims.   There was a time when the word ‘transformation’ carried weight. It signified bold strategic shifts, reinvention of business models, and breakthrough technologies that fundamentally changed how organizations created

The Sardar biography that throws light on our times

Patel: A Life By Rajmohan Gandhi Aleph Books, 568 pages, Rs 1,199   There are many biographi

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter