Background:

Antrix Corporation is the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd is a start-up headquartered in Bengaluru. They signed an Agreement on January 28, 2005, a month after Devas was incorporated in Bengaluru in December 2004 by two former ISRO employees. Under the deal, ISRO would lease to Devas two communication satellites (GSAT-6 and 6A) for 12 years for Rs 167 crore. Devas would provide multimedia services to mobile platforms in India using S-band transponders on the satellites, with ISRO leasing 70 MHz of S-band spectrum.

The deal progressed smoothly for six years before it was annulled by the UPA government on February 25, 2011, following a Cabinet Committee on Security decision of February 17 to terminate the agreement to use the S-band for security purposes. The government decision was taken in the midst of the 2G scam and allegations that the Devas deal involved the handing over of communication spectrum valued at nearly Rs 2 lakh crore for a pittance.

What Happened to Devas Multimedia? 

In 2013, the Enforcement Directorate was asked to look at finances of Devas after a high level team headed by former Central Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha stated that “the shareholding pattern of the company and of the Mauritius based entities needs to be looked into by an appropriate investigative agency”.

After the NDA government came to power in 2014, the CBI was asked to investigate the 2005 deal. In August 2016, the CBI filed a charge sheet against eight officials from Devas, ISRO and Antrix linked to the deal for “being party to a criminal conspiracy with an intent to cause undue gain to themselves or others by abusing official positions”. Among the eight is former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair and former Antrix executive director K R Sridharamurthi. The CBI has charged the accused of causing a loss of approximately Rs 578 crore to the government through the deal.

The ED filed a charge sheet in 2018 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against a former managing director of Antrix and five Devas officials, stating that Devas transferred 85% of its Rs 579 crore foreign funding to the US under various claims.

Antrix filed a plea in the National Company Law Tribunal in January 2021 for liquidation of Devas in India, which it said was incorporated in a fraudulent manner. On May 25, the NCLT ordered the liquidation, which was upheld by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on September 8, 2021 and by the Supreme Court on January 17, 2021.

Where did Sonia loot? 

The costly S band spectrum was handed over to Devas for a pittance. It was worth lakhs of crores.

Where did Sonia do treachery with nation? 

  1. The S-Band spectrum is reserved for Army and Govt agencies. By giving it away to a private firm surely indicates an intention to help foreign powers.
  2. The investors of Devas are foreign entities, not much information about the shareholding pattern is in public domain. I am sure that they must have done bad use of the valuable spectrum falling to their hands.
It is important that Gandhis need to thrown away from Congress to revive the nationalist character of Congress.

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