Court grants time in Devas-Antrix deal case

A special Central Branch Investigation (CBI) court on Thursday granted time till August 5 to the investigating agency to get sanction from authorities concerned to prosecute former Additional Secretary in the Department of Space Veena S. Rao in the Devas-Antrix deal case.

The CBI today submitted a report that it is yet to obtain sanctions under Section 197 CrPC from authorities to prosecute Rao.

In the last hearing, the CBI informed the court that sanction to prosecute ex- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair and other former senior officials in the Antrix- Devas deal case has been received from the appropriate authorities.

In March 2015, in an FIR against Nair and his accomplices the CBI had alleged that through the deal, ISRO's commercial arm the Antrix had facilitated wrongful gain to Devas, a private multi-media company.

The deal was finalised in 2005, saw an early exit of G Madhavan Nair as ISRO chairman, as he headed Antrix's governing council then.

The case related to leasing of S-Band, a restricted wavelength of the INSAT satellites to deliver multimedia and information services to mobile receivers in vehicles and phones to the Devas by the Antrix.