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Dayanidhi Maran shares RTI evidence with CBI

Published

9 years ago

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New Delhi: Former communications minister Dayanidhi Maran shared some RTI replies of BSNL and MTNL with the CBI during questioning on the second day on Thursday in the case involving the installation of over 700 phone lines at his Chennai residence.

Maran, who reached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters around 10.45 a.m., was examined by the Special Task Force (STF) between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., an official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IANS.

The STF officials had reportedly asked Maran, a communications minister in the first Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government (2004-07), to provide evidence of his innocence, as he faced them for seven-and-a half hours on Wednesday.

As per instructions of the CBI sleuths, the minister gave them a bunch of Right To Information (RTI) replies collected from the BSNL and MTNL.

Maran accepted that he provided the RTI replies from MTNL and BSNL in his defence to the CBI officials during his seven-hour interrogation.

“I was given an opportunity to give some good evidences which I have collected through RTI from BSNL and MTNL, which clearly says that one ISDN PRI connection is only one connection and not three hundred connections as claimed earlier,” Dayanidhi Maran told IANS after his questioning at the CBI headquarters.

“Similarly, I have given much more information which was all received through RTI,” he added.

Maran said he was cooperating with the CBI officials and was ready to answer their questions any time. “I also assure them that in future also I will cooperate and come any time to answer their questions.”

The loss to the public exchequer is now being put at Rs.1.80 crore rather than the earlier quoted figure of Rs.440 crore.

The STF staff of the CBI, who had registered an FIR in the case on July 23, 2013, on Thursday again questioned Maran with a new list of over 300 questions.

The STF team is probing the installation of over 700 phone lines, including 323 high data capacity BSNL lines, being used at his Boat House residence in Chennai to benefit the Sun TV group, owned by his elder brother Kalanithi Maran.

Asked if the CBI would approach the court for cancellation of Maran’s interim bail, which was taken by him on Tuesday from the Madras High Court, the official said: “Maran is cooperating with us in questioning. He again appeared at the CBI headquarters before the time he was given. We don’t need to go to court for the rejection of his interim bail plea.”

On Thursday, Maran was again asked by the STF whether the high capacity lines, in which a stealth cable was used, were used illicitly by Sun TV channel to transfer huge amount of data without paying for the service.

The agency’s investigation also centres on the fact that the system was devised in such a way that except for the “authorised BSNL staff”, no one in the state-owned telecom company was aware of it.

Maran, who faced several rounds of questioning, was also asked about the role of his aides – former additional private secretary V. Gowthaman, Sun TV’s chief technical officer S. Kannan and electrician L.S. Ravi who were earlier arrested by the agency in the case. The Madras High Court has granted bail to them.

The CBI officials also said Maran was asked if he had pressured BSNL officials to install these lines.

The CBI launched its investigation in 2011 – nearly four years after the matter surfaced. In 2007, the agency had recommended action to the then telecom secretary but nothing happened.

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Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists

Published

2 years ago

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June 25, 2022

By

PureWin Online Betting

The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index

Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.

The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports

Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.

All for the Tourists

The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.

“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.

To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.

Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market

With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.

Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.

Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.

Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting

Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.

Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.

The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.

If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.

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