LEASED OUT?: Windsor Manor

It's played host to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji. Even so Hotel Windsor Manor Sheraton and Towers, Bangalore, has seen its last celebrity, if Karnataka Wakf Minister A.H. Hindasgeri has his way. The ITC-owned hotel, opposite Chief Minister S.M. Krishna's official residence, has been issued a notice under the Karnataka Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act to vacate the premises and turn over the land to the Wakf Board.

The management has not replied to the notice-it doesn't seem perturbed, saying the issue is raked up every few years. It does go back a long way. To 1973, in fact, when the 1.65-lakh sq ft Wakf property on which the hotel stands was leased to the Monarch Corporation for 30 years. Within a year, the land was assigned to Vishwavarma Hotels and the lease extended to 50 years, without prior sanction of the board, says Hindasgeri. The board declared the lease "null and void" in September 1974.

In 1981, the board issued a notice to Monarch Corporation and Vishwavarma Hotels threatening to revoke the lease. Nevertheless, the premises were sublet to Windsor Manor Hotel in 1982. A petition filed in the Karnataka High Court against that notice is pending.

Windsor Sheraton Towers Vice-President Suresh Kumar counters Hindasgeri's claim. He says the land was leased to the hotel for 90 years in 1973. Will the Raj era building, a landmark of the city, survive? Watch this space.

-Stephen David

Scambuster Interrupted

After the clean- up, the transfer. Rajnish Rai, superintendent of police, CBI, Gujarat circle, unearthed several huge scandals-including the Rs 1,300-crore high-speed diesel (HSD) swindle involving top oil company officials and the Ahmedabad fake passport racket. Now he's been transferred. The move has raised eyebrows as Rai was giving final shape to several crucial probes, and because the transfer, critics point out, couldn't have taken place without Home Minister L.K. Advani's sanction. Dipak Rajani, editor of Rajkot-based daily Aaj Kal, has filed a public-interest petition in the Gujarat High Court challenging Rai's removal. The man himself is keeping mum.

-Uday Mahurkar

MARK MASCARENHAS (1958-2002)

Mark Mascarenhas was known by the company he kept, primarily Indian cricket's most precious commodity, Sachin Tendulkar, for whom he acted as manager.

But the influence of Mascarenhas, who died in a car accident on January 27, in cricket ran deeper, to its roots in the television rights business. After dabbling in US media rights for soccer, alpine skiing and boxing Mascarenhas tapped into Indian cricket in 1996 and struck oil. Sheer nerve and opportunism helped him win the rights to the World Cup; he lined up a high-profile commentary panel that turned into a loyal band of friends. They stood by him when his business was raided by tax authorities and investigated by the CBI in 2000 for allegedly swindling Doordarshan.

At the end of it all, WorldTel, Mascarenhas' company, lost bidding wars in Sharjah, India and Sri Lanka and was left only with rights to cricket in Bangladesh. Yet Tendulkar renewed his contract with WorldTel at an estimated Rs 100 crore over five years. More than an endorsement of his methods-rumoured to be unsavoury-the renewal was recognition that the man could deliver on his promises. Mascarenhas was planning to open a Tendulkar chain of eateries; one of his co-passengers on the fatal car journey was a London restaurateur. Till the end, Mark Mascarenhas stayed in the game.