Star TV made a lot of hulabaloo about how the network would crack down on any one trying to corner the limelight by riding on the shirt tails of the successful Kaun Banega Crorepati. Well, it seems to be doing little. Several companies are ripping off on the concept of crorepati - so much so that it has become part of the Indian lingo.

But worse is the fact that Star has done nothing about Internet sites which have cropped up. Two have been sending mails to VSNL subscribers asking them to win crores. These are http://www.crorepatibaniye.com, and http://www.croreMaster.com, a site which had come up about a fortnight ago but shut down soon thereafter when it could not cope with the web traffic.

http://www.croremaster.com was uncannily tuned into the show in its run in its look and feel. One has not been able to log into see it in its second run.

Wonder whether the folks at Star will put their money where their mouth is and crack down on these renegade sites. Or will they follow the dictum: it's a free world after all, let everyone have his piece of the crorepati action. .