Eminent journalist Farouk Luqman’s column on Russi Karanjia (June 15) is very interesting. Karanjia Saheb, known as the father of Indian tabloid journalism, was one of those few outstanding journalists who had personal contacts with the famous trio of Non-Alignment Movement (NAM), Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru, Jamal Abdul Nasser and Marshal Tito and others.
It is a coincidence that the first issue of Blitz, the newspaper he owned, was out on Feb. 1, 1941, and Karanjia died on Feb. 1, 2008. Blitz was published in English, Hindi and Urdu. One of my friends, Amjad Osmani, worked for Urdu Blitz.
After Karanjia’s death, I read an article in “Parsi Khabar” that he used to write letters to The Times of India’s readers’ column and would even respond under different names to his own published letters, thereby sparking controversies and debates. This helped him land a job with The Times itself.
Karanjia launched a relentless campaign to get a pardon for Commander Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati, one of the finest and outstanding officers of the Indian Navy and an expert on aircraft carriers and submarines. Commander Nanavati was to command the refurbished HMS Hercules prior to it becoming INS Vikrant. But he could not as he was sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting Prem Bhagwandas Ahuja to death for luring his English wife Sylvia.
Nanavati got a pardon in 1964, got reunited with estranged Sylvia and emigrated with their three children to Canada, settled in Toronto, never to return to India.
I visited INS Vikrant some 35 years ago when it was still an aircraft carrier. Now it is a naval museum.
The Nanavati incident, which was termed as “crime of passion,” inspired a movie titled, “Yeh Raste Hain Pyar Ke,” starring Sunil Dutt, Leela Naidu and Rahman. (N.A. Mirza, Jeddah)
A conspiracy theory
In his letter ‘Pakistani media’ (June 17), Khawaja Umer Farooq assumes the bribery case against the son of Pakistan’s chief justice as a conspiracy to malign the supreme judiciary.
However, it is his assumption that I find is itself a conspiracy theory. It's a very straightforward case: the property tycoon, Malik Riaz, has a number of pending cases against his business empire in the Supreme Court. He invested on the chief justice’s son to grease the cases, arranged foreign trips for him, and paid in cash, which is evident from his lavish life style and expanding business. But apparently he couldn't get the expected relief from the Supreme Court.
On the surface, it's a case between two persons, and nothing to do with the judiciary. Why then did the superior judiciary get involved/ tainted? And how come the chief justice was unaware of his family's foreign trips, lavish standards of living, and his son's expanding business? If there is no convincing answer, then investigation shall cover all the possible beneficiaries of these deals.
Blaming media, boycotting courts and protesting on streets won't work.
Shouting slogans can’t change facts. If there are allegations of corruption against anyone, regardless of his position, he shall willingly present himself for accountability. We shall come out of this 'holy cow' clout; we are not living among saints! (Masood Khan, Jubail)
Letters — Russi Karanjia and Blitz
