ANIL AMBANI provides Compensation

In an unprecedented move, Anil Ambani Group company -- Reliance Power -- will offer free bonus shares to all its shareholders to compensate the losses they suffered when the company was listed a week ago.

"Reliance Power board will consider issuing free bonus shares to all shareholders excluding the promoters," a group spokesperson said.

On the day of its listing at Rs 547.8 a share, Reliance Power performed miserably at the stock exchanges and closed the day nearly 32 per cent lower. The IPO had attracted a total demand of about Rs 7,50,000 crore and the company had issued the shares at Rs 450 while giving a discount Rs 20 a share to retail investors.

Taking the investing community by surprise, the Anil Ambani group on Sunday (February 17) announced to consider free bonus shares to all non-promoter shareholders in Reliance Power, while alleging that corporate rivals were pulling down share prices of all group companies.

Meanwhile, in a reltated development, Reliance Power also demanded a probe by market regulator SEBI into "a vicious and orchestrated campaign of market manipulation and market abuse unleashed by unscrupulous rival corporate interests to hammer down all Reliance ADA stocks". The company said its board would consider the free bonus shares at a meeting next Sunday (February 24) to benefit over four million of its investors and the cost would be accepted by promoter group by way of diluting its shareholders.

ORRISA UNREST.......!!

An encounter is on between Naxals and security personnel in near Tikapali police station on the Kandhamal-Ganjam border in Orissa. Police sources claim heavy casualties on the Naxal side.

Orissa Home Secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra said that three security personnel have been killed in the encounter and added that the Naxals, too, have suffered heavy losses.

"At least 20 Naxalites have been killed so far. This counter-attack will continue till we wipe out all of them," Mishra said.

Mishra also said that the state is now fully prepared to contain the Naxal threat.

“This is the first offensive by the Naxals in the state. The problem has been that of spillover of violence from the neighboring states. Of late, there have been instances of explicit Naxal activities. We are now fully prepared and will be dealing with them firmly. Intensive combing operations are on,” he added.

The encounter comes a day after hundreds of Naxals overran three police stations and two outposts in Nayagarh, killing 14 policemen and a village guard. The Naxals had also looted two armouries in the attack that lasted over four hours.

Naxals had launched major offensives at Nayagarh and Daspalla in Orissa on Friday and looted sophisticated arms and ammunition from three trucks.

The first attack was on the Nayagarh Police Training School and the district armoury.

Police say the attack was carried out by a group of around 400 Naxals, including women cadres, equipped with bombs and firearms. Within a few minutes, another attack was launched at a police station in Daspalla town.

The Naxal attack is believed to be in retaliation for the death of seven of their cadres earlier on Thursday in Jharkhand.