The Income Tax department is believed to have begun investigations into the finances, investments and returns of all the telecom firms whose licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court on February 2 this year.

These licences allotted in 2008 during the tenure of former telecom minister A Raja were believed to be rigged.

Uninor (joint venture between Unitech and Telenor of Norway), Loop Telecom, Sistema Shyam (joint venture between Shyam and Sistema of Russia), Etisalat DB (joint venture between Swan and Etisalat of UAE), S Tel, Videocon, Tata and Idea are being investigated by the IT department. 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has prepared a status report and last week informed the apex court that it has started examining the tax statements and multi billion investments of these telecom firms on the directions of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).  

The development took place after CVC directed CBDT officials and the IT department to bring the spotlight on all those companies who are set to lose the spectrum licences following the apex court verdict.