Devas says vendetta by India over CBI case against top officials

On Thursday, CBI filed charges against former Isro chief G Madhavan Nair and several Isro and Devas officials citing Rs 578 crore loss to exchequer

Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd on Friday accused India of retaliating against the satellite firm asserting its rights and winning a international tribunal verdict over the cancellation of the satellite leasing deal with Antrix Corp, an arm of India's space agency.

"The chargesheet is just the latest mala fide act that the Indian government has taken against Devas and its shareholders in retaliation for their exercising their legal rights arising out of the illegal annulmen't of the Devas-Antrix contract," said Devas's Chairman, Lawrence Babbio in a statement. "It is notable that the chargesheet has been issued just weeks after the Hague based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal unanimously found that the Indian government unlawfully expropriated the investments of Devas's Mauritius-incorporated shareholders, and that the Indian government's actions denied fair and equitable treatment to those shareholders."

On Thursday, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed charges against several Isro officials include its former chairman G Madhavan Nair and senior Devas officials including its chief executive Ramachandran Visvanathan. The CBI has cited loss of Rs 578 crore to the Indian exchequer for filing charges in the CBI court in Delhi.

India cancelled the deal in 2012 citing security reasons after it got caught in the political storm over the 2G telecom scandal. Isro had signed the deal with Devas to lease two communication satellites on S band to beam high speed internet on mobile devices.