In conversation number #132 in the infamous Niira Radia tapes, the lobbyist whose name has become synonymous with the 2G scam, talks to M.K. Venu, then of The Economic Times, in July 2009:
Venu: Is Manoj (Modi) is here (in Delhi) today also, no?
Radia: Yeah, he is here, he is leaving in the afternoon, later part of the afternoon. We are meeting Prannoy (Roy of NDTV) today. We need to support Prannoy, you know… We feel it needs to be supported.
Now, the penny drops.
Money Life, the personal finance magazine run by the investigative journalist Sucheta Dalal, reports that the American investment firm D.E. Shaw has picked up a 14.2% stake in NDTV, providing an exit to another blue chip investor, Goldman Sachs, which held an equivalent stake.
Reports Money Life:
“Interestingly, the D.E. Shaw investment in NDTV has happened in less than two weeks since it joined hands with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to enter the Indian financial services sector. Now we know that Mukesh Ambani has a soft spot for NDTV’s promoters and anchors and that they had previously approached him for an investment.”
Manoj Modi is Mukesh Ambani’s Man Friday. Niira Radia represented Mukesh Ambani and counted NDTV Imagine among her many clients before the 2G scam broke.
M.J. Akbar‘s Sunday Guardian reported in March that Radia was behind the January 2010 launch of a book by bureaucrat-turned-politician N.K. Singh in London, for which Ambani, Venu and NDTV’s Barkha Dutt travelled together on the same plane.
Read the full article: NDTV continues to find buyers
Listen to the conversation: #132 M.K. Venu: July 09, 2009
IJR 
It’s all so smokey that nothing is clear …
Now I am really having a headache.
If the God of small screen (Pranoy Roy), and the Goddess of small screen (Barkha Dutt) can be forced to make a pact with the Devil (sell their soul for money, power and elitism) then how can we ever trust anyone.
Someone should write Faust Part II with a new set of characters from Indian politics, media, business, Bollywood, and NGOs.
once upon a time NDTV was the most respected news outlets, till about 3 years ago. Now it seems as if entire media has become part of the DMK bandwagon….
That is why we need to have a system in this country in which individuals do not matter, the system should be strong enough to be able to function smoothly even if individuals become corrupt…
Ambani can do what he wants, but he will not be able to save NDTV beyond a point.
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