Will Tehelka's real owners please stand up?
Will Tehelka's real owners please stand up?
Tehelka is owned by Anant Media Pvt Ltd, which, as per filings available with the registrar of companies, is a subsidiary of KDS Corporation, a company controlled by entrepreneur and Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kanwar Deep Singh.
The latest balance sheet of Tehelka available with the RoC is for the fiscal ended March 31, 2012. As on that date, Royal Building and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd owned 65% equity in Anant Media Pvt Ltd. KDS Corporation owns 85% equity in Royal Building and Infrastructure. KD Singh and his wife Mrs Harpreet Kaur together own 23.93% equity in KDS Corp, a holding company of sorts for a number of companies that are part of the Alchemist group, a diversified conglomerate with interests in food processing, retail, hospitality, real estate and other sectors.
On Thursday, after the Tehelka sexual harassment case snowballed into a major issue, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Derek O'Brien tweeted that KD Singh had just clarified to him that he did not own Tehelka. "KD Singh just clarified to me 'I am not the owner of Tehelka. I have nothing to do with the publication'," O'Brien tweeted. The TMC spokesperson told ET that he had tweeted what Singh had told him and had nothing further to add on the matter.
It's unclear if Singh's companies have sold its holding in Tehelka after March 31, 2013. KDS Corp's balance sheet for the fiscal ended March 31, 2013 lists Anant Media as a subsidiary. Singh did not respond to a questionnaire emailed to him and was not available on the phone. This, despite ET trying to contact him over two days. Tejpal and Tehelka managing editor Shoma Choudhury did not respond to emailed questions about the company's ownership structure. Tejpal owns 19% equity in the company, with equity held by family and friends adding up to nearly 10%.
A little over 5% equity is held by a company called Weldon Polymers Pvt Ltd. Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, one of the minority shareholders, told ET that the turn of events at the company was very unfortunate. But Jethmalani, one of India's foremost criminal lawyers, who has appeared for Tejpal in court in the past, said he would not be at hand to defend the Tehelka editor in this case. "After the December gangrape case in Delhi, I have resolved that I will never appear in such a case. For me to appear against the girl in court in a case like this gives me the shivers."
Apart from Singh and his wife, equity in KDS Corp is owned by two companies - Optimum Constructors and Developers Pvt. Ltd and Placid Estate Pvt. Ltd. The first, Optimum Constructors, is part-owned (23%) by KDS Corp itself. During the fiscal ended March 31, 2012, KD Singh and his wife transferred the entire shareholding of Placid Estate to two directors Satish Mehta and RP Chhabra.
Mehta sits on the board of Anant Media, which has two members nominated by the Alchemist group and two members from the Tejpals' side-Tarun Tejpal and sister Neena Sharma. It's unclear what the private arrangement between the two main blocks of shareholders is, with respect to control and voting rights on the board. Shareholders in KDS Corporation are KD Singh and his wife Mrs Harpreet Kaur (together 23.93%), Optimum Constructors and Developers and Placid Estate Pvt Ltd.
Optimum Constructors and Placid Estate both list their registered address as 23, Nehru Place, which is listed by the Alchemist Group on its website as the group's corporate headquarters. The website identifies KD Singh as chairman emeritus of the group.
For the fiscal ended March 31, 2012, Anant media posted a loss of 10.5 crore, down from a loss of 16 crore the previous year. Royal Building and Infrastructure, the Alchemist group company, extended an unsecured loan of Rs19 crore to Anant Media during the fiscal ended 31 March 2012.
KD Singh has been in the news for his brush with the law on two occasions in the recent past. In 2011, he was intercepted at New Delhi airport carrying an unspecified but large amount of cash. He was boarding a flight to Assam, where assembly polls were due and Trinamool Congress was contesting. Rival CPM had then alleged that he had illegally taken 57 lakh to Assam as the airport officials allowed him to travel after he identified himself as an employee of the Alchemist group.
More recently, in September, market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India, barred Alchemist Holdings from accepting deposits from the public. It held that Alchemist Holdings and Alchemist Infra Realty Ltd had together raised more than 1,400 crore in illicit schemes. In June, it had asked Alchemist Infra to repay the money it had collected from investors. In 2012, the government had ordered a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office into Alchemist group companies.
Tehelka is owned by Anant Media Pvt Ltd, which, as per filings available with the registrar of companies, is a subsidiary of KDS Corporation, a company controlled by entrepreneur and Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kanwar Deep Singh.
The latest balance sheet of Tehelka available with the RoC is for the fiscal ended March 31, 2012. As on that date, Royal Building and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd owned 65% equity in Anant Media Pvt Ltd. KDS Corporation owns 85% equity in Royal Building and Infrastructure. KD Singh and his wife Mrs Harpreet Kaur together own 23.93% equity in KDS Corp, a holding company of sorts for a number of companies that are part of the Alchemist group, a diversified conglomerate with interests in food processing, retail, hospitality, real estate and other sectors.
On Thursday, after the Tehelka sexual harassment case snowballed into a major issue, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Derek O'Brien tweeted that KD Singh had just clarified to him that he did not own Tehelka. "KD Singh just clarified to me 'I am not the owner of Tehelka. I have nothing to do with the publication'," O'Brien tweeted. The TMC spokesperson told ET that he had tweeted what Singh had told him and had nothing further to add on the matter.
It's unclear if Singh's companies have sold its holding in Tehelka after March 31, 2013. KDS Corp's balance sheet for the fiscal ended March 31, 2013 lists Anant Media as a subsidiary. Singh did not respond to a questionnaire emailed to him and was not available on the phone. This, despite ET trying to contact him over two days. Tejpal and Tehelka managing editor Shoma Choudhury did not respond to emailed questions about the company's ownership structure. Tejpal owns 19% equity in the company, with equity held by family and friends adding up to nearly 10%.
A little over 5% equity is held by a company called Weldon Polymers Pvt Ltd. Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, one of the minority shareholders, told ET that the turn of events at the company was very unfortunate. But Jethmalani, one of India's foremost criminal lawyers, who has appeared for Tejpal in court in the past, said he would not be at hand to defend the Tehelka editor in this case. "After the December gangrape case in Delhi, I have resolved that I will never appear in such a case. For me to appear against the girl in court in a case like this gives me the shivers."
Apart from Singh and his wife, equity in KDS Corp is owned by two companies - Optimum Constructors and Developers Pvt. Ltd and Placid Estate Pvt. Ltd. The first, Optimum Constructors, is part-owned (23%) by KDS Corp itself. During the fiscal ended March 31, 2012, KD Singh and his wife transferred the entire shareholding of Placid Estate to two directors Satish Mehta and RP Chhabra.
Mehta sits on the board of Anant Media, which has two members nominated by the Alchemist group and two members from the Tejpals' side-Tarun Tejpal and sister Neena Sharma. It's unclear what the private arrangement between the two main blocks of shareholders is, with respect to control and voting rights on the board. Shareholders in KDS Corporation are KD Singh and his wife Mrs Harpreet Kaur (together 23.93%), Optimum Constructors and Developers and Placid Estate Pvt Ltd.
Optimum Constructors and Placid Estate both list their registered address as 23, Nehru Place, which is listed by the Alchemist Group on its website as the group's corporate headquarters. The website identifies KD Singh as chairman emeritus of the group.
For the fiscal ended March 31, 2012, Anant media posted a loss of 10.5 crore, down from a loss of 16 crore the previous year. Royal Building and Infrastructure, the Alchemist group company, extended an unsecured loan of Rs19 crore to Anant Media during the fiscal ended 31 March 2012.
KD Singh has been in the news for his brush with the law on two occasions in the recent past. In 2011, he was intercepted at New Delhi airport carrying an unspecified but large amount of cash. He was boarding a flight to Assam, where assembly polls were due and Trinamool Congress was contesting. Rival CPM had then alleged that he had illegally taken 57 lakh to Assam as the airport officials allowed him to travel after he identified himself as an employee of the Alchemist group.
More recently, in September, market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India, barred Alchemist Holdings from accepting deposits from the public. It held that Alchemist Holdings and Alchemist Infra Realty Ltd had together raised more than 1,400 crore in illicit schemes. In June, it had asked Alchemist Infra to repay the money it had collected from investors. In 2012, the government had ordered a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office into Alchemist group companies.
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