Top Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan has unknowingly given an interview to an illegal radio station run by Talebans and funded by drugs money.
Aamir was heard giving an in-depth interview, where he talked about the recent Mumbai attacks, to an anchor that seemed to be unsympathetic to the horrid attacks in India last month. Apart from talking about who was to blame and what could now be done, Aamir also took the opportunity to promote his big release flick Ghajini.
We here at RadioSargam.Com managed to obtain a recording of the full interview. You can listen to by clicking here. Alternatively you can right click with the mouse and download the file to your computer to listen later.
The incident happened on Christmas Day (25th December 2008) at 17:30 hours GMT. The live telephone interview was aired on station Vibe FM, which is broadcasting neither with a licence from the Radio Authority nor permission from the relevant authorities. What makes this incident even more bewildering is the fact that the station is being funded by members of Afghanistan’s former regime, the Taleban. Many Indians blame them to be behind the Mumbai hotel attacks.
Vibe FM has been broadcasting in the Yorkshire area of the UK from underground premises. Radio stations in the UK can only go on air once a licence has been obtained from the government run Radio Authority. A limited number of licences are sold each year for duration of 28 days maximum. A list of all authorised radio broadcasts is published on the Radio Authority website each month; currently Vibe FM is not listed.
Channels such as Vibe FM tend to come on air every now and then but once the Radio Authority is informed, the studios are raided and with the help of the Police, the culprits arrested and charged. Stations can not be run without licences as their broadcasting equipment can interfere with close-by aeroplanes and hospital equipment.
According to RadioSargam.com sources, Vibe FM is being run from a number of different residential premises in Yorkshire. The same sources claim that the people behind this illegal broadcast are members of the Taleban government now taking up asylum in the UK.
According to another source, the interview was arranged by well known Mumbai based journalist and TV reporter Srinivasan Ramchandran. We have tried getting comments on this from both him and Aamir, but without any luck.
rounak