Parts 1 and 2 of this series can be accessed here. This is Part 3.
After PGurus published the two articles exposing Ramesh Abhishek (RA), Delhi’s Sarojini Nagar police station, on orders from some Home Ministry (MHA) officials, had called an individual whom Abhishek was suspicious about, to inquire about the whistleblower complaints. Remember, Law and Order is a state subject…
Delhi Police (DP), on instructions from highly placed friends of RA in the MHA flew down to Mumbai for intimidating and harassing members of his daughters’ extended family. The flight expenses of Delhi police officials were allegedly borne by family members of RA. Investigating agencies can check this. Two issues with this:
- Unless the local State Police (Maharashtra) approves, Delhi Police has no jurisdiction in Mumbai. They were under instructions from someone in MHA so I won’t blame them (DP).
- Under which law in the country can a private party pay money and make police fly from one city to another in order to harass and display a naked show of power? That too right under PM Narendra Modi’s nose, by a man heading the Make in India initiative?
The Whistleblower (WB) points to several instances where RA unabashedly publicizes that his daughter is a lawyer and sends out strong signals to the public at large to use her / her services as a front for his actions, and thereafter in meetings he tells the clients to give him money by the way of awarding retainerships / legal consultancy etc. to Vaneesa Abhishek Agrawal.
Did Ramesh Abhishek abuse his position to favor Kith and Kin?
As described in the previous post, Ramesh Abhishek (RA) has two daughters – Vaneesa Abhishek and Nupur Abhishek. Vaneesa Abhishek got married and changed her name to Vaneesa Agrawal. She founded a startup company, Thinking Legal. A quick look at her site reveals that she has a degree in law from New York University and that this firm is essentially a law firm that specializes in a lot of things. It is amazing if someone who has just a few years of practice under her belt can be good at so many things. Nothing wrong with that, you say? Well, read on…
Consultant in 4 different companies… at the same time!
The Whistleblower (WB) complaint lists Vaneesa Abhishek as a Consultant at several places all at once, making it impossible to do so many jobs at the same time, during the time period FY2014-15 to FY2017-18. Employment at 4 places at the same time, drawing huge salaries and perks raise eyebrows of anyone who goes through the complaint. Here is the list:
- Crawford Bayley
- Reliance Infrastructure (Reliance ADAG Group)
- Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and
- Rothschild & Co.
We managed to obtain her BSE ID card (shown below in Figure 1). She had an office of her own, with the title Legal Officer. Emails inquiring about the exact period of her employment with BSE were not answered. Likewise, email inquiries about her period of employment with Crawford Bayley (we have her Crawford email account so we know that she was officially working there) were also not answered.
Quid Pro Quo at BSE?
Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks falls under Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) where RA is secretary… BSE is the only one of two buildings (the other is Hotel Taj) to have got itself registered as a trademark and intellectual property[1]. This means anyone desirous of using a picture of the BSE building needs to get their permission. This registration is a rigorous process and it happened when RA was the secretary and his daughter a consultant with BSE. Was there a quid-pro-quo here? Was the approval given in exchange for consideration via a job for the daughter? Does this not reek of conflict of interest?
Using Social Media to promote his daughter
As a public servant, one is supposed to not only be fair but appear to be fair. In the case of Ramesh Abhishek – one frequently comes across tweets by him where he retweets his daughter’s company tweets (see Figure 2).
The Whistleblower (WB) points to several instances where RA unabashedly publicizes that his daughter is a lawyer and sends out strong signals to the public at large to use her / her services as a front for his actions, and thereafter in meetings he tells the clients to give him money by the way of awarding retainerships / legal consultancy etc. to Vaneesa Abhishek Agrawal.
Government Twitter Handles such as @MakeinIndia, @DigitalIndia, @InvestIndia were used to promote Vaneesa’s firm @ThinkingLegal_ as well as RA’s tweets. When I checked to verify the bitmaps that are part of the WB complaint, some were missing so clearly someone is trying to sanitize these sites. Why remove them unless there was a question of propriety? Here is one sample (see Figure 3). If you walk down the timeline of the @MakeInIndia account, the tweets stop at Jan 2, 2019. The handle was opened in 2014!
Continued…
References:
[1] BSE’s iconic Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers secures trademark – Jul 18, 2018, GKToday.in
His first book NDTV Frauds has been published and is an Amazon Bestseller.It ranked second among all eBooks that were self-published in 2017.
His second book, The Gist of GSTN which too is available on Amazon as an e-Book and as a paperback.
His third book, The Rise and Fall of AAP is also available in print version or as an e-Book on Amazon.
His fourth book, C-Company just released to rave reviews and can be bought as a print version or as an e-Book on Amazon.
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make a snide one line phrase- remark and run- like a fu…g terrorist and coward.
The NEXUS of Powerful NETAS [working and looking after their own selfish personal interest across party lines], BUREAUCRATS [includes top IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS Cadres], CORPORATE HEADS [through their cunning Lobbyists placed in Delhi on huge retainer fees], LEGAL luminaries [includes both elite Lawyers and Judges] work in COLLUSION to serve their self-interests. Therefore, nothing CONCRETE to weed out CORRUPTION – COMPLETELY will ever emerge. Vajpayee had adequate evidence to go after Rajiv Gandhi. He did not take that route. Despite Cases against Sonia-Rahul-Vadra as well as P. Chidu-Karti C are very very tight, it is difficult to get to the end point. For eg., note PC could demand the CWC to get the election seat for MP cleared for Karti’ thus, he is quite capable of Modi-Amit shah Duo stop proceeding against him when it is needed. The Crook-Chidambaram is adept at the art of playing his Cosmic Dance to Come out and he Can’t be Caught or Caged in the Cell. He has his Connections and Chamchas all over Delhi and across the world. Thus, it is difficult to get to the bottom and clean up the entire mess. There are many skeletons in the closet and when they ALL tumble, it would affect the current ruling class and Modi-Shah won’t tread that far to protect their class following the track of Atal Ji.
strange report and unconnected comments ..all the best…
AB must be close to Modi .Else how a criminal survives . No ethics in govt .
this article is an example of the vulnerability of the PMO office- to corruption at various levels- and MODI is oblivious to activities of his underlings – soon after the election- MODI addressed his PMO office- all personnel in that office- I assume- he focused on the efficacy of the PMO- urged them to adhere to principles that would exceed the efficacy of the PMO.
I can hear the author’s frustration- angst- MODI’s oblivious of awareness of corruption of the kind described in the article- how can MODI not sense that such activities goes on and that he gives it a pass for whatever reason. I felt that same senses running through my brain.
A whistle blower was describing such a blatant activity that goes on- under the nose of MODI?
Imagine the arrogance?
the daughter was functioning as a lobbyist – access to PMO.
the author, Subramanian Swamy, amongst others have repeatedly said- MODI- must remove fu..g bureaucrats carried over from the previous UPA regime- MODI continues to not get it, it appears.
I am happy- Jaitley is out. I am glad SHAH is Home minister. I felt that previous home minister-Ratna Singh- was not aggressive enough- on internal terrorists and external terrorists- incomplete focus and eliminating the cancerous threat and groups.
Ratna Singh- Defence portfolio- continue the focus, show force where needed, continue exceed the efficacy of all forces- expand domestic military complex- cyber force- expand the capacity of various military levels- to eliminate the enemy.
West Bengal- is a police state- becoming one- the chief Bitch- I believe she is a Muslim- corrupted – whatever means possible- to secure power- WB is backward state- lagging – at every level. MODI cannot afford to leave WB behind. MODI cannot afford to ignore the local elections in 2 years- BJP’s progress must exceed deeper at the grass roots level- whoever the president of BJP- he/she must have the ability to exceed the legacy of SHAH- continue that national, state and local strategy- to meet the aspirations of the common man ,woman and child.