Vikki Choudhry To The Deputy Commissioner of Police Economic Offences Wing, Delhi Police Mandir Marg, New Delhi Also addressed to. foes SEO The ary b = bene Commissioner of Delhi Police Diary NoDm Foe. Police Headquarters Date. 2.1. B1 fase ITo Delhi -110002 Subject: Complaint of cheating to the extent of more than Rs. 6000 Crores illegally collected from consumers, against the accused companies and their principal officers and request for lodging FIR and investigation thereof. Respected Sir, 1. The complainant Home Cable Network [P] Limited through Mr. Vikki Choudhry, has carlier challenged the Tariff Orders issued by TRAI on 31.3.2014 and on the basis of such Tariff order the Pay TV Broadcasters and their affiliated Pay TV channels were permitted 27.5% hike and decided to implement the hike in two separate installments. The first installment of 15%, for the period from December 2008 to March 2014, was made effective from 01.04.2014 vide the Eleventh T.A.O (Tariff Amendment Order) and the second installment of 12.5% accounting for the remaining part of the inflation linked for the same duration was made effective from 01.01.2015 vide the Thirteenth T.A.0. issued by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India i.e. TRAL 2. As these T.A.Os issued by TRAI were issued without any due consultation process and were notified while the country was undergoing its 16" Lok Sabha general elections and an election commission code of conduct was already in place w.e.f 14.02.2014 . In pursuant to these T.A.O issued and notified by TRAI an amount to the tune of more than Rs. 6000 Crores in excess have already been collected from the ignorant consumers of Television services in the country by the Accused Pay TV broadcasters and their appointed channel aggregator companies through their directly and indirectly aligned vertically integrated Distribution Platform Operators “DPOs” ( List of accused companies with names of their respective principal officers and address enclosed as Annexure ~ A ) Bractontey © mena (10a Cly. te3. The Hon’ble TDSAT in the appeal of the complainant vide order dated 29.53.2014 was pleased to pass the following order “AL this stage, we are not inclined to pass any order of stay. However, we direct that all stake-holders must keep a separate account in regard to the collections on the basis of the impugned order. It is made clear that in case the Appeals succeed, the individual subscribers making any excess payment in terms of the impugned order will be entitled to adjustments for the succeeding month from the respective LCOs/MSOs. Similarly, the LCOs will be entitled 10 adjustments from the MSOs and the LCOs and the MSOs from the broadcasters.” (Honorable TDSAT Order dated 29.5.2014 in Appeal 2 (C) 2014 is enclosed as Amnexure-1) 4. Finally, vide judgment dated 28.04.2015 the Hon'ble TDSAT was pleased to allow the complainant’s appeal and set aside the impugned T.A.O dated 31.03.2014 issued by TRAIL, (Enclosed as Annexure -2). The appeal filed in the Honorable Supreme Court of India by the association of these Pay TV Broadcasters and their vertically aligned DPOs namely Indian Broadcasting Foundation “ IBF” and ORS, was dismissed by the Honorable Supreme Court of India vide an order passed dated 04.08.2015 with the following observation made, “ At this stage we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order of remand passed by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal. Needless 10 say that The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India shall reconsider the matter, in the light of the observations made in-the order impugned and pass a fresh order. Till the matter is finally adjudicated, the respondents shall not insist for refund of the amount already collected by the appellants. (Honorable Apex Court order dated 04.08.2015 enclosed wherewith as Annexure -3) 5. Thereafter TRAI issued a consultation paper on tariff issues related to TV services on 29" January 2016 in order to comply with the Honorable TDSAT Judgment dated 28.04.2015 which was upheld by the Honorable Apex Court vide order dated 4.08.2015. Finally, on 905.2016 TRAI issued a press note No: 28 of 2016 withdrawing the Eleventh and Thirteenth T.A.O giving the following observation “that there is a healthy growth in the industry with rise in revenues outstripping the increasing inflation over the years and therefore concluded that that inflation linked hike provided earlier vide Eleventh T.4.O and Thirteenth T.A.O dated 31° Page 2of 4March, 2014 and 31" December 2014 respectively, which have been set aside by Hon'ble TDSAT vide its order dated 28" April 2015 and the said order of Hon'ble TDSAT has also been upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, are not required at present.” (The complete TRAI Consultation paper on tariff issues related to TV services in Inda is Annexure — 4) 6. Pursuant to the above consultation paper and after putting in a consultation process the TRAI on 3.3.2017 has finally issued the Tariff Order No.1 of 2017 and in view of the issuance of the said Tariff Order, the direction of Hon'ble Supreme Court dated 4.8.2015 that the complainant shall not insist for refund of the amount collected as per the earlier order, has come to an end, Now, the complainant is entitled to seek refund of the excess amount which is to the tune of more than Rs.6000 crores collected from the ignorant consumers including the complainant on the basis of the earlier tariff amendment order of TRAI dated 31.3.2014 and the said amount to be Refunded / Adjusted. 7. The complainant vide Notice through its lawyer on 17.4.2017 and reminder dated 13.06.2017 asked the Accused Pay T.V. Broadcasters through their principal officers to furnish the details of the amount with accrued interest as on 31.3.2017 on the amount collected on the basis of the TAO dated 31.3.2014. (Annexure ~5 and 6) 8. The Accused Pay TV Broadcasters have failed to furnish the details of the separate accounts maintained by them for the purpose of depositing the excess amount collected by them and they have misappropriated the amount to the extent of more than Rs.6000 Crores. They have not adjusted the excess payments collected from the innocent customers in their subsequent bills. 9. The complainant has lodged the grievances before the TRAI seeking the refund of the amount of Rs.6000 Crores collected by the Accused broadcasters from the ignorant customers. The TRAI vide its letters dated 13.7.2016 and 7.04.2017 has replied that “In the above order, the Hon'ble TDSAT has not given any direction 10 TRAL Therefore TRAI has nothing to say in this regard. In view of the above, you are free to approach the appropriate form in this regard.” (Annexure-7 Colly ) 10. The Accused Pay TV Broadcasters namely M/s. Star India [P] Limited through its principal officer Mr. Uday Shankar with the knowledge of their Directors Shareholders and affiliates have committed criminal breach of trust within the meaning of Section 406 of the Indian Penal Code by neither depositing the excess Page 3 of 4i. amount in Separate Account nor adjusted the said excess payment in the bill of the customers for the subsequent months and misappropriated the same. The Accused companies and their principal officers and their Managing Directors with an intention of cheating / embezzlement of the said excess amount collected from the innocent public did not open separate account despite the direction of law and thereafter misappropriated the same knowing that the said misappropriation would be resulted in cheating the crores of innocent and ignorant customers / consumers of TV services in the country, including the complainant and thereby cheated the innocent consumers to the extent of more that Rs.6000 Crores collected The accused persons have prima facie also committed the offences of Section 418 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code. ‘Therefore, the complainant requests your good office to investigate the offence by lodging FIR and prosecute the Accused persons as per applicable, sections of law including Section 406, 418 and 420 of IPC Thanking You, Yours sincerely oe Vikki Choudhry |S/o Late Capt. R.S Choudhry ‘W/o B-10 Third Floor, Friends Colony (West) New Delhi- 110065 Mobile # +91 9811144467 Email: vikki.choudhry@outlook.com Dated: 1.08.2017 Encl: As Above Page 4 of 4