The one thing that caught your attention about Dewang Mehta was his passion for the Indian software industry and the dramatic manner in which he spoke. However, the 38-year old passed away quietly and alone in a five star hotel in Sydney this morning, shocking the entire software industry with his untimely death.
Mehta was part of a technology delegation led by IT Minister Pramod Mahajan and was to catch this evening‘s flight (local time) for home. and he was supposed to check out of the Hotel Park Hyatt by 11:30 am this morning. When he failed to do so, the hotel staff broke open the door by 5 PM in the evening and found him dead in the room. No foul play is suspected so far and the cause of death is not known.

Mahajan told UNI that he met him on Wednesday night and he appeared to be hale and hearty. The shocked minister said he would try and bring back Mehta‘s body back on Friday after the local police had completed all the procedural formalities. Mehta was a bachelor.

Mehta also had links with the television industry. Quoting him from his website http://www.dewangmehta.com ," I‘ve been working towards providing Internet Through Cable TV in India. One of my key objective is to promote local content development on Internet. My dream is to have at least 2mbps of bandwidth for every adult citizen of India."

B4U Network Television today said it has issued a legal notice to Zee Telefilms seeking an explanation from the Subhash Chandra promoted company regarding claims that it had acquired a 15 per cent stake in B4U.

B4U CEO Ravi Gupta says his company is seeking an explanation from Zee as to when the transactions that they claimed they made took place and if there was any attempt to buy into B4U, why it was done in such a surreptitious manner. "Why didn‘t Zee approach us directly if as they claim they wanted to buy a stake in our company. We view this whole episode as a hostile act on the part of Zee," Gupta says.

Queried as to whether any compensation had been sought, Gupta replied in the negative. "We will wait and see how they respond but we expect at least a public apology," Gupta said, when asked what his next course of action would be.

The controversy arose after Zee officials claimed on Tuesday to have advanced Rs 2,200 million to several companies, of which B4U was just one, linked to major bull operator Ketan Parekh.

Parekh is currently in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation, India‘s premier investigating agency, for his alleged central role in a still unravelling financial scandal which has caused the collapse of the stock markets.

According to reports, the funds for Zee‘s transactions were borrowed from Global Trust Bank, another entity suspected to be linked to the scandal. Zee has said it acquired 28.5 per cent in AB Corp (Amitabh Bachchan Corporation) and 15 per cent in B4U as part of a long term strategic initiative.

Meanwhile, the Zee scrip continues its downward slide. The stock had only sellers at the counter. The scrip ended at RS 84.50 at the close of the day‘s trading.