NDTV

#PCWedsNDTV – Unending Saga of Ex-NDTV Journo’s Journey of (Un)truths

Ensures6 Comments

There was this guy an Ex-NDTV Journalist (If I can call him one) who was trying to bull-doze his way into lying, then abusing and then crying victim all behind a “Impregnable” (atleast that is why he thought) fort of lies he erected around his original lies.

This piece is not judging any players involved but placing plain facts before readers – Request to see this just as that. But what I definitely intend to do is to call the bluff of this journalist, based on strongest evidence.

Prelude:

The entire debate was re-triggered in recent times (Jan 5th, 2014 to be precise),  after Sri Gurumurthy ji shared Sri Ram Jethmalani letter to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram regarding NDTV money laundering.

 

GuruMurthy-RamJLetterPC-Sharing-
Click on the Picture to read Original tweet (if it still exist)

You can read copy of Sri Ram Jethmalani’s letter to Finance Minister P Chidambaram here 

We knew something was amiss when Finance Minister’s oblique (and culprit-like dismissive) response to Sri Ram Jethmalani’s letter. Sri Ram Jethmalani shred PC response to pieces.

GuruMurthy-PCReply-RamJLetterPC-Sharing-
Click on the Picture to read Original tweet (if it still exist)

You can read copy of Sri Ram Jethmalani shredding apart Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s reply here: 

Now that the premise is set, this Ex-NDTV Journo set on a tirade, setting Twitter ablaze with a litany of lies, threats and “failed” sarcasm. Social media was upto this game which hitherto was ruled by the Paid media. The entire debate on Twitter was hashtagged #PCWedsNDTV and slowly but surely every single bluff was being called. Needless to say, though it was a trending topic on Twitter,

PCWedsNDTV-Trending-01

Diverting from the purpose of this piece a bit – Did we see even a whimper from any Main Stream Media on this subject? Though unacceptable, perfectly understandable. OMERTA – if they speak about NDTV, it is a cinch skeletons in every Paid Media’s cupboard will tumble out.

Back to the story….It was during this #PCWedsNDTV debate that the Ex-NDTV journo tweeted an unsolicited response to  Sri S Gurumurthy (Prophetically, I had tweeted right away that this would come to haunt him soon) 

Abhisar-NDTV-Joining-01
Letter in the bottom not in Original tweet
Added to make it readable). Click pic for Original Tweet (if it still exist)

And then he set out on a raging debate justifying a couple of things about the Officer who assessed Income Tax returns of NDTV. He starts with a threat to sue (for sharing a document in public domain)

Abhisar-Threatening
Click pic for Original Tweet (if it still exist)
Abhisar-NDTV-ConversationWithUs
Click pic for Original Tweet (if it still exist)

And when he realized legally that was a dud! Launches on to some defense that was pathetic (on hindsight, it was abominable as you would realize later in this piece) – He claimed in a series of tweets thus:

Tweet 1: “bt she ws nt assessing ndtv wn I ws thr. Wrng. Srivastava ws chargesheetd by vigilance. Lies spd by him”

Tweet 2: her boss ws assessing it. Nt her. She jst signed refund tht means nthing. Alphabet “n” fell in her domain

AbhisarSharma-SumanaNotAssessing-01

AbhisarSharma-SumanaNotAssessing
Click pic for Original Tweet (if it still exist)

He tried to hold forte, but unfortunately for him it was not an anchored show on MSM. With more evidences pouring in, he cried victim and vamoosed and thought the matter would die a natural death

The finale: RTI response received cleared indicates all the above from this Ex-NDTV Journo was a blatant lie. Here is the copy of RTI response with sections highlighted.

NDTV 1.46 crores refund RTI - 1 of 2

NDTV 1.46 crores refund RTI - 2 of 2

A note on Item 10 on page 2 of the RTI response above

The refund of Rs. 14682836/- to NDTV passed by “her”  DCIT is ILLEGAL because:

As per the Supreme Court judgement in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax vs Gujarat Electricity Board of 12th November 2002 (see order: http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1244968/), no order u/s 143 (1)(a) can be passed once a notice u/s 143 (2) is issued. In this case notice u/s 143 (2) was issued by Shri Hemant K. Sarangi, Addl.CIT on 13.12.2004 and order of refund u/s 143 (1)(a) was passed by “her”, DCIT on 28.03.2005.

Interestingly NDTV’s case for AY 2004-2005 was already being handled by Shri Hemant K. Sarangi, Addl. CIT, senior of “her”, DCIT and therefore she could not have attended to the case as there cannot be more than one assessing officer in a case at the same time!

Readers can now judge on the claims of this Ex-NDTV journo

  1. Wasn’t this journo in employment of NDTV when this assessment was made
  2. Wasn’t the “She” assessing officer contrary to what he claimed
  3. Wasn’t “she” the one who raised the refund order,
  4. Wasn’t “she” the one who signed the refund order, not by virtue of letter “n” but as one who raised it???

Watch this space!!! More of such Facts Coming Up!

Puts a Commercial block buster to shame – PCWedsNDTV is a massive cover-up involving all ingredients of a popular Masala Thriller.

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Diva Blackmails Blogger – her face is Blackened

Ensures

Here was a nondescript blogger Chaitanya Kunte (Chyetanya) who was arm twisted into removing a Blog, which was factually right and objectively evidenced. He succumbed to the pressure tactics of NDTV legal team prompted by the so called “Free Speech Advocate” and Media Celebrity Barkha Dutt.

What they forgot – What goes up Live once… Stays there.  Here is what got taken down. Recording it for posterity (Pictures are mine and not part of the original piece)

This blog is generally about the Journalistic practices as also the hypocrisy of Proponents of Free Speech – those who think their freedom of speech is more valuable than the others’.


Shoddy journalism

Appalling journalism. Absolute blasphemy! As I watch the news from home, I am dumbfounded to see Barkha Dutt of NDTV break every rule of ethical journalism in reporting the Mumbai mayhem.

Take a couple of instances for example:
In one instance she asks a husband about his wife being stuck, or held as a hostage. The poor guy adds in the end about where she was last hiding. Aired! My dear friends with AK-47s, our national news is helping you. Go get those still in. And be sure to thank NDTV for not censoring this bit of information.

In another instance, a General sort of suggests that there were no hostages in Oberoi Trident. (Clever.) Then, our heroine of revelations calls the head of Oberoi, and the idiot confirms a possibility of 100 or more people still in the building. Hello! Guys with guns, you’ve got more goats to slay. But before you do, you’ve got to love NDTV and more precisely Ms. Dutt. She’s your official intelligence from Ground zero.

BDUTT

You do not need to be a journalist to understand the basic premise of ethics, which starts with protecting victims first; and that is done by avoiding key information from being aired publicly—such as but not limited to revealing the number of possible people still in, the hideouts of hostages and people stuck in buildings.

Imagine you’re one of those sorry souls holed-up in one of those bathrooms, or kitchens. A journalist pulls your kin outside and asks about your last contact on national television, and other prying details. In a bout of emotion, if they happen to reveal more details, you are sure going to hell. Remember these are hotels, where in all likelihood, every room has a television. All a terrorist needs to do is listen to Ms. Barkha Dutt’s latest achievement of extracting information from your relative, based on your last phone-call or SMS. And you’re shafted—courtesy NDTV.1
If the terrorists don’t manage to shove you in to your private hell, the journalists on national television will certainly help you get there. One of the criticisms about Barkha Dutt on Wikipedia reads thus:

BDUTT-Kargil

During the Kargil conflict, Indian Army sources repeatedly complained to her channel that she was giving away locations in her broadcasts, thus causing Indian casualties.
Looks like the idiot journalist has not learned anything since then. I join a number of bloggers pleading her to shut the f⋅⋅⋅ up.
Update: In fact, I am willing to believe that Hemant Karkare died because these channels showed him prepare (wear helmet, wear bullet-proof vest.) in excruciating detail live on television. And they in turn targeted him where he was unprotected. The brave officer succumbed to bullets in the neck.

Update 2 [28.Nov.2300hrs]: Better sense appears to have prevailed in the latter half of today—either willfully, or by Government coercion2, and Live broadcasts are now being limited to non-action zones. Telecast of action troops and strategy is now not being aired live. Thank goodness for that.
Update 3 [30.Nov.1900hrs]: DNA India reports about a UK couple ask media to report carefully:
The terrorists were watching CNN and they came down from where they were in a lift after hearing about us on TV.
— Lynne Shaw in an interview.
1. Oh, they have a lame excuse pronouncing that the television connections in the hotel has been cut, and therefore it is okay to broadcast. Like hell!
2. I’m thinking coercion, since Government has just denied renewing CNN’s rights to air video today; must’ve have surely worked as a rude warning to the Indian domestic channels

Read more on the reactions on the Indian blogger being silenced at http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/01/30/india-blogger-silenced/

Mandraker (a failed magician), B(loody)edi

Ensures

What a week that went past! The cricketing world was divided vertically on the rights and wrongs of anything related to cricket. Records books were scoured to score points off the field. Without sounding jingoist (which I am anyway) I knew the Aussies had it coming! What surprised me was that it came from Indians (despite the Sanjay Manjrekars or Bishen Singh Bedi) – with anyone having a say in this country in matters concerning cricket – ICC’s protestations notwithstanding Indians wins this round hands down!

It is no ones claim that Aussies are not the best side and who deserve to win every match the play, it is their attitude of playing the game outside the realm of sportsmanship that is at the core of the issue. And some media channels NDTV in particular with some worthies that have been named above chose to dig a lonely path just for the sake of appearing different. Their comments reeked of this attempt to create a USP for themselves. And pray! Sanjay was asking Indians to play on the field and win the match to silence the Aussies – if wishes were horses… And while he was making this statement on NDTV, ICC was bent on ensuring Steve Bucknor stand in that test too. Was there a remote possibility of winning on the cricketing field, Sanjay? On hindsight, it appeared that it was another voice along with the Aussies against the words of Tendulkar (yeah yeah! plain jealousy – refer to a few articles this worthy has written about Tendulkar). Bishen Singh Bedi – lesser said the better. The person who given a chance would have turned out to be “good drowner of non performers” trying to talk sport (he conveniently forgot the past – selective amnesia this).

NDTV botched up in its attempt to be a channel with a difference (and incidentally this blog refuses to appear on its website – maybe they get the certificate from the Aussies – but then who in the world would consider anything from Aussie a compliment? Steve Bucknor should stay, Indians should stay, Harbhajan maybe said it, Due process of law – my foot! An Australian player can accuse an Indian player of making a racist comments with absolutely no evidence and still be banished from the game and here we have the intellectuals advising to take it lying down. SM and BSB, what India did was not just for Indians (though I dont see any iota of pride of belonging in your guys) – it is for the sake of the sport and more specifically for the Asian teams who more often than not are the victims of this white hegemony. And yes! ICC were on the lookout for some ambassadors and they wanted someone just like you – all the very best (the application has been made in the form of the Television interview) and I hope you would land some job there.

And thanks we know what is national pride, it is not something that can be mortgaged on the some stupid penal financial ramifications or pseudo-sportsmanship. And it was no grace at all on the TV show when you state Sherry had the expereince of walking out – and tell me, what did you do staying back out there? Lost more and sold the country’s pride for peanuts (oops!!! Sorry Symonds Pun Intended). So stop the nonsense! Dear Sanjay! You can never reach the heights Tendulkar reached just due to these reasons.