Meet Chinnakannan Sivasankaran, who once owned two islands, used to live in a 71-room palace, founder of one of India's top telecom company, but today…
Chinnakannan Sivasankaran Story: Chinnakannan Sivasankaran, once owned two islands and lived in a 71-room palace, but the fate of billionaire businessman took a U-turn and now he leads the life of a common man. The life story of Chinnakannan Sivasankaran is nothing short of a Bollywood masala movie, filled with dramatic ups and downs. But it's not just a tale of downfall—it also stands as an example of rising again after failure. Once a billionaire, Sivasankaran describes himself today as broken, but insists he is not poor. What happened in his life that brought him to this point? All you need to know about Chinnakannan Sivasankaran: Chinnakannan Sivasankaran was born into a modest family in Tamil Nadu.
Sivasankaran entered the business world at a very young age.
In the beginning, he started a computer hardware business.
Later, he progressed and took his ventures to new heights.
He founded a company called Sterling Computers Limited (STC), which, during the 1990s, became one of India's top computer companies.
Shivashankaran gained real recognition when he founded Aircel.
Launched in 1999, the company brought a revolution in the telecom sector of South India.
Within a very short time, Aircel attracted millions of customers and became one of the major telecom brands in the country.
Shivashankaran, later sold a 74 percent stake in Aircel to Maxis Communications (Malaysia). This deal got highly controversial and was later linked to the 2G spectrum scam. After that, Shivashankaran's troubles began, and his fortunes changed.
In 2018, Aircel officially filed for bankruptcy. Following this, Shivashankaran was burdened with massive debt and legal troubles. He claimed that he suffered a loss of Rs 7,000 crore due to the entire episode.
Chinnakannan Shivashankaran, popularly known as 'Siva', was once estimated to have a net worth of $4 billion. However, after Aircel went bankrupt in 2018, his world turned upside down. Recently, while sharing his story on Ranveer Allahbadia's show, The Ranveer Show, he revealed how he lost ₹7,000 crore. He said, 'I am not poor, I'm just broken for now.' He also mentioned that a related case is pending in the Supreme Court, and he is hopeful that he will recover his money through it.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
28 minutes ago
- Time of India
Drugs not recovered, man walks free after 12 years in NDPS case in Noida
Noida: Twelve years after being jailed for allegedly possessing contraband, a man was acquitted, with the prosecution having failed to convince the court about any sort of recovery. A court of additional district and sessions judge on Tuesday said the prosecution did not follow the procedures mandated under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Judge Abhishek Pandey ordered the acquittal of Dilip Kumar, a resident of Sunpura in Mainpuri district, who was already out on bail in a case pertaining to the alleged recovery of diazepam powder by Sector 24 police in 2013. The court observed "grave lapses" in the prosecution case as the recovered substance was not produced before the court, the accused was not searched in front of any neutral witness or magistrate as mandated under Section 50 of the NDPS Act and after sending 24 grams of the recovered powder to the forensic lab, there was no mention of how the remaining one gram of powder was handled. Declaring that the prosecution failed to prove that the accused was arrested with any contraband substance, the court exonerated him from charges under Section 18/20 of the NDPS Act and said that since Kumar was already out on bail, his bailers should be recused. He was, however, directed to furnish a personal bond of Rs 30,000 and two sureties of equal value in the court. "Under established norms, the recovered powder should have been placed in two packets with proper marking and sent for forensic testing and the other kept under seal in the police station, but this has neither been detailed in the case details nor admitted by prosecution witnesses in their deposition," the court observed. The defence counsel objected to the accusations and said that the accused was falsely implicated in the case and that nothing was ever recovered from him. "It was a false story and the procedures under the NDPS Act were not followed by the prosecution," the defence counsel said, seeking exoneration from all charges. It also expressed surprise over the missing one gram of powder and the statement of prosecution witness 3, who said that he received three sealed packets from SI Yadav on the night of the arrest. "If there were three sealed packets, what was in them and where it was kept is not clear," the court observed. According to the prosecution, a police team under sub-inspector Srinivas Yadav was on regular vehicle checking duty near Videocon Square on the evening of Sept 26, 2013, when they received a tip-off about a person coming in that direction with diazepam tablets and a knife. Yadav, who registered an FIR the same day, informed the court that he, along with the police team, intercepted the accused and overpowered him when he was trying to escape. "On asking the reason for escape, he confessed to having diazepam powder and a knife. We informed him about his right to be searched before a magistrate or gazetted officer, but the accused expressed his eagerness to be searched by police and we recovered a white powder, which weighed 25grams of diazepam powder, and a knife," Yadav informed the court. Prosecution witness Yadav, who was referring to the case file during deposition, told the court that he retired in 2016 and was undergoing treatment for depression.
Time of India
28 minutes ago
- Time of India
Samruddhi expressway to be linked to Vadhvan port
Mumbai: Maharashtra will connect the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi expressway corridor to the upcoming greenfield Vadhvan port, slated to be the country's biggest such facility, via the Nashik highway, the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai greenfield expressway corridor, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, the under-construction bullet train corridor, and the coastal road that is planned to be extended up to the port. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "The Prosperity corridor will have up to 500 MW to 1,000 MW capacity solar plant along it with 200 MW starting soon, besides a huge gas pipeline that will supply PNG not only to cities but also to power and steel plants right up to Gadchiroli to achieve decarbonisation targets. Every 500 metres to a kilometre there is a groundwater recharge facility and ponds to hold rainwater," said chief minister Devendra Fadnavis soon after opening the 76 km last leg of Samruddhi between Igatpuri and Bhiwandi. He announced that very soon, work on the Rs 80,000 crore Shaktipeeth corridor from Nagpur to the Goa border via Marathwada and Western Maharashtra will also be started in full swing. Deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar were present at the Samruddhi inauguration, besides scores of ministers and legislators. The CM and his deputies also opened the south-bound arm of the Vashi creek bridge through an online event. "Samruddhi expressway is not just a road; it is a green corridor for Maharashtra's fast-emerging economy as 24 districts of Maharashtra have been connected to JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) and eventually to Vadhwan. Special wildlife infrastructure with 100 animal overpasses and underpasses have been constructed to ensure their safe passage. A total of seven tunnels have been built; the one between Igatpuri and Kasara being the widest in the country. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now We will break this record once the Pune-Mumbai missing link tunnel is completed. The interchanges on the Samruddhi expressway look like art work drawn on paper. Inside the tunnel, artificial rainfall will begin when the temperature crosses 60 degrees due to a fire incident and will stop when it drops to 30 degrees," he said while interacting with the media at Igatpuri. The tunnel was built by Afcons. Fadnavis said over 3.3 million plantations were done using local species. "While building the road, 1,000 farm ponds were created. We are prepared to generate 200 MW of solar power and 22 amenity centres have been set up. A gas pipeline will also reach from Konkan to Nagpur, providing gas to people and industries. Religious places like Shirdi, Shegaon and Trimbakeshwar will come closer. Now we want to construct the Shaktipeeth expressway as well on a fast-track basis," he said. Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde termed Samruddhi a game-changer. "It was one of the toughest and most challenging projects and will greatly benefit people and businesses. A journey that took 18 hours will now take only eight hours — saving both fuel and time. We paid attention to even the smallest details. Around 1.1 million large trees and 2.2 million small plants will be planted, making the expressway the most eco-friendly project ever," he said, pointing out that the road will boost agriculture, tourism, and industry. A farmer starting in the morning from Nagpur with produce used to reach Mumbai in three days. Now, he can reach by evening," he added. Shinde said the Shaktipeeth expressway will be a game-changer for Marathwada as farmers won't commit suicide anymore. After the inauguration, the chief minister and his deputies inspected the longest Igatpuri tunnel of the expressway and viaduct in the stretch. To conduct an inspection of the expressway, Dy CM Shinde drove a high-end car with CM Fadnavis sitting beside him in the front seat and Pawar occupying the back seat. The inspection lasted around 45 minutes, including the time taken for the journey between Igatpuri and Amane. On the way back, Fadnavis and Shinde swapped seats with the CM getting behind the wheel, while Pawar remained in the same seat. The newly-constructed third creek bridge near Vashi Sion-Panvel Highway was also inaugurated via video conferencing on the occasion. The earlier operational 625 km of the expressway stretch was used by nearly two crore vehicles in the last two years. The maximum speed limit on the expressway is 100 kmh in ghat sections and 120 kmh on flat terrain. The expressway traverses through 392 villages in 26 talukas across 10 districts in five revenue divisions. A smart integrated traffic management system (ITMS) will be installed on the expressway soon, the CM said, adding they gave the 'right of way' to the Gas Authority of India Ltd for laying the pipeline while making the access control road between Mumbai and Nagpur. Dy CM Ajit Pawar said many, including farmers from his party, opposed the Samruddhi project at the beginning, but when CM Fadnavis announced very attractive compensation, they all sided with the project and accepted money. "The project was estimated to cost Rs 55,500 crore but eventually went well above Rs 61,000 crore. Around 12 crore cement bags were used in the project. Fadnavis started the project when he was CM, and now it was inaugurated during his second term, and such continuity is rare in politics. And also let's not forget the contribution of Eknath Shinde," he said.
Time of India
42 minutes ago
- Time of India
Cyberfrauds digitally arrest retired doctor & wife, extort Rs 1.95 crore
Patna: A retired doctor and his wife in the city were kept under digital arrest for 12 days by cyberfrauds, who impersonated as top law enforcement officials and extorted Rs 1.95 crore from them. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The couple, terrorised by continuous threats and fake courtroom visuals on video calls, transferred the money in multiple instalments over two weeks. The case came to light when the elderly couple grew suspicious and lodged a complaint with the Cyber police station in Patna on Wednesday. Confirming this, DSP Raghwendra Mani Tripathi, in charge of the cyber police station, said on Thursday, "The couple—Dr Radhe Mohan Prasad, a retired physician from the PMCH, and his wife Chhabi Prasad, who live in Hanuman Nagar—were under digital arrest since May 23. The cybercriminals posed as CBI officials, lawyers, and judges, and threatened them with violence. Out of fear, the couple visited their bank multiple times and made six RTGS transfers amounting to Rs 1.95 crore." Their ordeal began on May 21 when they received a phone call from an unknown number based in Mumbai. The caller claimed to be a CBI officer and informed them of a money laundering case registered against them at the Colaba police station in Mumbai. Saurabh Mohan, the couple's son, who also is a doctor, recounted, "My parents were at home when the call came. The man said he was from the CBI and claimed a money laundering case had been filed against both of them. Soon after, they started receiving video calls in which people dressed as police officers were visible." The fraudsters told Dr Prasad that a SIM card, issued in his name using his Aadhaar card, was linked to multiple money laundering cases. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Within an hour of the first call, they began bombarding the couple with long video calls—some lasting up to 15 hours—where fake setups resembling police stations, CBI offices, and courtrooms were shown to create an atmosphere of intimidation, said the police. "The criminals maintained round-the-clock surveillance through video calls, cutting off their communication with the outside world," the DSP said. The elderly couple, overwhelmed by fear and unable to verify the claims, complied with the criminals' instructions without informing anyone else. The police have begun a probe into the case and have received three phone numbers used for the WhatsApp video calls. "We are analysing the call details and tracing the origin of the video setups," he said.
