Delhi Housing Societies Case: Threats from ITC Worker

Delhi Housing Societies Case: Threats from ITC Worker

Update: November 13, 2016

I received the following e-mail from ITC on November 10, 2016 in response to my mail dated November 2 – which is published below.

Dear Mr. Raman,

Thank you for bringing this communication to our notice.

Please be advised that this e-mail has no sanction or bearing on ITC Limited or ITC Hotels. The organization policy mandates that employees are to refrain from using official ids for personal matters.

Since Mr. Ravinder Sharma has used his official id in this case, the matter has been taken up with him and he has been duly cautioned.

Mr. Sharma has admitted to the oversight and assured us that this is an aberration and will not be repeated henceforth.

Regards,
Anil Sharma
Executive Vice President – HR & Learning Services
ITC Limited – Hotels Division

Here’s my reply dated November 13, 2016:

I thank ITC for its response. However, I will have to pursue this case further because ITC has not yet informed me about the punitive action taken against its worker Ravinder Sharma who crossed all limits to defame me among various other people by using ITC contact.

Moreover, Ravinder Sharma has not yet apologized for his derogatory e-mail of Oct. 31 by sending an apology e-mail to me and all the 90 recipients of the mail group that he used, and he has not yet withdrawn his e-mail of Oct. 31. I had very clearly petitioned about this requirement in my previous communication.

Here, I must also inform you that Ravinder Sharma of ITC Hotels is part of a larger gang that has been trying to intimidate and defame me, as I am raising my voice against corruption, environmental damage, and human rights violations.

I, therefore, once again request ITC to consider this defamation case in a professional manner and take Ravinder Sharma to task in very clear terms – as I have mentioned – so that I could get justice and relief for the wrong committed against me. Please inform me accordingly.

My future course of action in this case will depend on ITC’s response.

Thank you
Rakesh Raman

I had sent my following e-mail to ITC on November 2, 2016 at: contactus@itc.in and reservations@itchotels.in

Since there is no response from ITC, I am publishing my e-mail today (November 7, 2016) on this page.

I once again request ITC to respond on the following communication.

To
ITC Hotels
India

Kind Attention: Mr. Aurko Dasgupta (to be forwarded to ITC HRD section)

November 2, 2016

Dear ITC Hotels,

Please let me introduce myself as a government award-winning journalist and writer. Besides working at senior editorial positions with India’s leading media companies, I had been writing an edit-page column for The Financial Express newspaper. Nowadays, I’m running my own global news services on different subjects.

Among other top assignments, I had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development.

I am writing you this e-mail to inform you that I have received an extremely offensive e-mail dated Oct. 31, 2016 from a person who has used the ITC Hotels contact in his e-mail signature, which is reproduced below:

Ravinder Sharma
ITC Hotels
Mobile: + 919650841155
www.itchotels.in / www.welcomzestlounge.in
Fb.com/itchotels / twitter.com/itchotels /
youtube.com/itchotels /instagram.com/itchotels

His e-mail is supposed to be in response to a recent article that I have written on my news site. My article is about the mismanagement and corruption happening at different group housing societies in Delhi – which, in turn, is resulting in major environmental damage and human rights violations.

I have also sent this article link to the top government officials so they could take corrective steps to protect the rights to clean and peaceful living for millions of people in the city.

But after reading this article, the above mentioned person Ravinder Sharma (ITC Hotels) has used an utterly defamatory language (in broken English) against me and has even threatened me with a legal action. He also has circulated his e-mail insulting me among nearly 90 other recipients.

You can read Ravinder Sharma’s e-mail at this link: http://www.ramanmedianetwork.com/delhi-housing-societies-case-reactions-from-residents/

Ravinder Sharma’s (ITC Hotels) e-mail, which is full of verbal garbage, is a blatant attack on my fundamental right of freedom of expression that I have been enjoying for the past over two decades as a leading journalist in the country. He has clearly tried to gag me with his intimidating language and libellous remarks.

Now I want to know if it is the stand of ITC Company or ITC Hotels against me when I am raising my voice against corruption, environmental damage, and human rights violations.

Or, if this Ravinder Sharma is an employee of ITC Hotels and has written this e-mail without your company’s knowledge and consent, I request you to thoroughly investigate this matter because he has used ITC Hotels’ e-mail id, etc. to defame me.

As Ravinder Sharma has tried to insult and threaten me with ITC Hotels’ contact, I request you to take a strict action against him and formally inform me about your decision in this regard. If he is not stopped by punishing him suitably, he will give a bad name to ITC brand with his belligerent random actions.

As he has shown a totally hostile behaviour in his e-mail, please issue him necessary instructions that he should not try to contact or meet me because I fear he can harm me physically.

Further, he must apologize clearly for his derogatory e-mail of Oct. 31 by sending an apology e-mail to me and all the 90 recipients of the mail group, and withdraw the said e-mail of Oct. 31. You may please help him write correct English language for his apology e-mail so that all the recipients could understand it clearly.

While I expect your response in the next couple of days (say, by November 4), my future course of action in this case will depend on your decision in this regard.

Please send me your reply on e-mail, as I keep my phones switched off to avoid disturbance. My personal e-mail (also copied above) is rr_thakur@yahoo.com

Here is the link of my article that Ravinder Sharma has mentioned: http://www.ramanmedianetwork.com/can-government-check-corruption-in-delhi-housing-societies/

Regards
Rakesh Raman
Managing Editor
RMN News Service – http://www.ramanmedianetwork.com/