Media magnate Kalanithi Maran on Saturday entered into an agreement to acquire 37 per cent stake in low cost carrier SpiceJet, sources representing the airline have confirmed. Sources said Mr Maran would pick up stake from SpiceJet promoter Bhupendra Kansagra and American investor Wilbur Ross. The agreement was clinched at the SpiceJet headquarters in Gurgaon near Delhi on Saturday evening in the presence of SpiceJet’s board of directors, sources said.
Those who are share-holders in SpiceJet include Mr Kansagra, Mr Ross, Mr Ajay Singh, the Tata Group and investment company Goldman Sachs.
Sources indicated that in the months to come, Mr Maran could pick up a majority stake in the airline.
SpiceJet has completed more than five years as an airline. Sources representing the airline said it would soon launch flights to Bangladesh and Nepal. SpiceJet is also interested in flying to Colombo in future and is working on getting permission from the government, sources said. SpiceJet has emerged as a prominent low-cost carrier in the Indian market.
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Dantewada SP gets transferred
Rabindra Nath Choudhury
Raipur
Finally heeding to the Centre’s directive, the Chhattisgarh government late on Friday evening shifted Dantewada superintendent of police (SP) Amresh Mishra to an inconsequential posting in police headquarters here.
Mr Mishra has been indicted by the E.N. Rammohan Committee, which probed the April 6 Maoist massacre of 76 security personnel in Dantewada, for holding back a vital intelligence input from the CRPF, leading to the tragic incident. The committee recommended action against Mr Mishra along with the inspector-general of police (IG), Bastar region, T.J. Longkumar, for their alleged lapses.
Chief minister Raman Singh was initially unwilling to act on the recommendation of the committee.
He had to succumb to unrelenting pressure by the Centre to fix responsibility on the two IPS officers, official sources here said.
However, as a face-saving measure, Mr Mishra was transferred along with 11 other IPS officers and four Chhattisgarh police service cadre officers, apparently to show it as a routine exercise.