Make up your own mind...

These are the contents of an email I recieved recently, I will not make any comments on the issue other than to say that several of the documents that were attached (which I've loaded onto Google Docs) date back several years - 2003-2004 in fact and a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. I do not know if these are the ramblings of a disgruntled former employee and what exactly happened. Before I start the mail though, I heard some news about the launch of Financial Chronicle being put on hold, the paper which was supposed to be launched on the 14th, might have an indefinate delay and not because drunk people fall down stairs. However, the Times is launching its Chennai edition on the 14th.
Enough of me, the only edit I've made is to remove the email address of the sender.
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Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2008 17:39:43 +0530
From: "fired journalist" <xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com>
Subject: Big Scoop: High Drama in UTV Office as CEO Flees From Backdoor when Police Come Calling

High Drama in UTV Office as CEO Flees From Backdoor when Police Come Calling~

Self acclaimed Rupert Murdoch of India, Ronnie (Rohinton) Screwvala, escapes from back door of office and flies straight to Singapore as Police come calling at his office ~ April 7, 2008: In a drama that is straight out Hindi potboilers, the CEO of a publicly listed company, Indians second largest film company, UTV Software Communication, had to run from his own office as Police came calling, and escape to Singapore. Ironically, the police were not even there to arrest him, but fearing so, he fled. For he knew the magnanimity of the offence committed this time. The story begins on the second week of February in 2005, when UTV signed a contract with Eagle Home Videos selling rights to 130 Hollywood films from the Miramax library to them and a hindi film, which they said they had, on 11th February 2005. But they did not have the rights to these films, and yet took 50 lakhs from Eagle as advance. From that time to now, Eagle made repeated calls upon UTV, asking them to hand over the master tapes of the said films, or to refund the money, none of which materialised. They were infact placated time and again by UTV on one pretext or the other, citing that all the tapes had not come, or that censoring was taking time. In reality, UTV had all of the tapes, but had realised the potential of the business and wanted to get into it themselves which they ultimately did and started selling the DVD of the titles on their own. This is not fair, but they should have returned the money owed by them. This, they however refused leading Eagle to file a case against UTV in the High Court of Delhi, and filing an FIR in Nizamuddin, accusing UTV of cheating and breach of trust for the said amount of Rs. 50 lac. The case under section 420 of Indian Penal Code 1860 has been registered in Hazrat Nizamuddin Police Station in Delhi, and is a non-bailable offence and a team of Mumbai Police, under instruction of Delhi Police, raided the UTV office last week. However, in a style typical of gangster films where the gangster escapes for his life from a backdoor, the CEO of UTV, Mr. Ronnie Screwvala, managed to escape and headed straight to the airport and flee to Singapore. A car chase by the police would have been the ideal thing to add, but nothing of that sort happened. The CEO of the 1000 odd crore company obviously had better intelligence than common thieves. This, however, is nothing new, as UTV has a history of such offences: • The list of people and organisations who UTV owes money to runs in thousands (some attached herewith)• The number of cheating, fraud and non payment of dues cases in various courts in the country against UTV, runs into hundreds. (some attached herewith)These are verifiable facts, a complete list of which you can get from the legal person at UTV. What is not verifiable are the scores of people that have been legally cheated e.g. the distributors who were paid a pittance for what they made millions on, people whose business ideas have been stolen, small artists and vendors who have not been paid and since there was no paper work involved, there is no question of a case. An example here can be given of Savita Hiremath, who was legally 'fleeced' of the bulk of money UTV made on 'Khosla Ka Ghosla'. Not only that but they announced a Tamil remake of the film to be directed by Priyadarshan without consulting Savita who is considering filing a case against UTV. UTV plays its cards hush hush. Yet, search for 'UTV Litigation' or 'UTV Court Cases' or 'UTV Arbitration' in Google and some reports do crop up of their black deeds. Though most of them are the ones that occur in the course of ones duty e.g. the Jodha Akbar cases. Yet, no one dares file a case against UTV because of their power and clout, and UTV cares nothing for it because they have mastered the legal system. They know things drag on and people lose interest. As India is heading into the new millennium with its head held high, and proud of its achievements, there are these companies which manage to fool the public, the press and other companies which want to earn from an honest days job. India Shining, no India Cheating Indians.
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Attachments (As I noted several of these are very old)
One - Contingement Liability
Two - Copy of Creditors
Three - Creditor Analysis
Four - Legal Notices
Five - List of Legal Cases
Six - Summary of Litigations
Seven - Miramax Library

Tired!

Did a day return trip today on the Shatabdi and dragged a laptop along with several movies I bought at the MBK Mall in Bangkok. Most of them were crap, but the last one I saw blew me away. It is called London to Brighton, and if you guys can check it out in the theatre or on DVD, make sure you watch it. Dark, brutal and horribly violent such a movie could only have been made in modern-day Britain. Damn, I loved this movie. Sorry to do movie plugs every once in a while, but this one deserves it.

Tomorrow I'll try and put a post together on the events at UTV where Ronnie Screwalla allegedly 'fled' his offices in Bombay when the Police came (Ironically, not to arrest him) and is currently in Singapore. All this because UTV and their subsidiary companies owe a lot of people a lot of money. Plus, UTV Business, the channel that is going to be launched by Govind Ethiraj is facing delays thanks to 'issues' in acquiring an uplink VSAT license we hear. Anyway, all that and more later.