Transcripts of the Niira Radia tapes, earlier a closely guarded secret, are slowing seeping into the public domain

The Income-Tax Department keeps the transcripts of the Niira Radia tapes a closely guarded secret. They are marked ‘Top Secret’ and ‘Strictly Confidential’, obviously because the PR firm, which has the accounts of Reliance Industries Limited as well as the Tata group, is bound to have enormous clout. Yet, the inevitable driblets are slowing seeping into the public domain, to reveal the exact nature of ‘communication’ and ‘PR’ skills that Ms Radia brought to these companies.
 

A part of these transcripts available with us indicates that Mukesh Ambani apparently wants to take over Haldia Petrochem with Ms Radia helping the deal, but “one Purnendu may create a problem and will have to be handled by Mukesh.” The authenticity of the transcripts is clear from the fact that the person on the job doesn’t even know that the ‘one Purnendu’ is none other thanDr Purnendu Chatterjee, deputy chairman of Haldia Petrochemicals. Ms Radia, meanwhile, seems to be working with the Haldia chairman to re-open the issue with CPM leaders Nirupam Sen and Prakash Karat. — Sucheta Dalal