Dharshan Rajakobal and 1 Thaalam Tamil Radio

The Failed Thaalam Summer Festival 2025

Following the earlier publication about Dharshan Rajakobal, several affected parties came forward, including informants who reported on the Thaalam Summer Festival and their experiences.

In late May 2025, Rajakobal announced a three-day festival for 29–31 August at the Amphitheatre Hüntwangen near Zurich – featuring international stars, over 200 acts, camping, and meet & greets. On 21 June 2025, Thaalam reported over 1,500 pre-registrations, and from 27 June 2025, ticket sales began at prices ranging from CHF 169 to CHF 779.

What Rajakobal did not disclose to his customers: the Amphitheatre Hüntwangen had officially rejected the festival. Despite this, Thaalam Media GmbH continued to sell tickets. On 2 July 2025, the company acknowledged that a new location needed to be found. After that, silence: no updates, no responses to customer enquiries, systematic deletion of critical social media comments – yet ticket sales continued.

Only on 26 August 2025, three days before the planned start, the festival was cancelled. Rajakobal promised refund information by email. Many affected parties have received neither an email nor their money back. With an estimated 1,500+ pre-registrations and ticket prices up to CHF 800, the total volume of retained funds likely amounts to several hundred thousand Swiss francs.

TICKET BUYERS ARE ADVISED TO DISPUTE THE TRANSACTION WITH THEIR CARD ISSUER. FUTURE-EVENT RELATED CHARGES CAN BE DISPUTED WITHIN 540 DAYS WITH MOST ISSUERS.

According to social media reports, customers of the Ilaiyaraaja concert from October 2024 are also still waiting for refunds – a recurring pattern.

DAB+ Shutdown – The End of Thaalam Tamil on Swiss Radio

In April 2026, the programme 1 Thaalam Tamil was permanently removed from all five SwissMediaCast multiplexes. DAB-Swiss commented: “Every year, the provider Thaalam Tamil fails to pay its invoices at the turn of the year.” As early as late 2023, Thaalam Tamil had already left the DAB islands of digris AG – the basis of the present case. Thaalam Tamil is therefore no longer receivable on terrestrial Swiss DAB.

Whether Rajakobal has shifted broadcasting to purely internet-based distribution and generates advertising revenue through it remains unclear.

Company Formations and Strategic Restructuring

Dharshan Rajakobal’s business career is characterised by repeated company formations and dissolutions. DEDICO GmbH, based in Zug, was founded in 2020 as a textile business. Rajakobal served as CEO, while his wife Shobaananthini Devarajah held 30% of the shares. The company primarily operated Tamil radio programmes via DAB+ networks in Switzerland.

Following significant payment difficulties, bankruptcy proceedings were opened against DEDICO GmbH on 20 February 2024. As early as January and March 2024, loss certificates totalling CHF 50,000+ were issued against Rajakobal personally, as no assets or seizable income were found during debt collection attempts.

Just months after these loss certificates, in August 2024, Rajakobal acquired the Dee Jee Fashion GmbH, which had existed since 1998, and converted it into Thaalam Media GmbH – a company with a clean credit history, while the old debts remained with the liquidated DEDICO GmbH.

Internationally, Rajakobal was involved in DEDICO Group Ltd (UK, April 2021 to September 2022) and Dedeco Billing & Collection Ltd (UK, 2022–2023) – short-lived companies following the same pattern.

Selective Payment Behaviour and Questionable Business Practices

Rajakobal’s payment behaviour shows a clear pattern. Certain DAB+ network operators were paid regularly, while other creditors have been waiting years for settlement of their claims. Despite loss certificates exceeding CHF 50,000, substantial payments continued for ongoing radio transmissions – estimated annual costs of several hundred thousand Swiss francs for nationwide DAB+ distribution. This selective payment practice indicates unwillingness rather than inability to pay.

The business address at Talacker 41 in Zurich is a domiciliary company operated by HCC AG with no actual office space. Rajakobal had not booked the tariff that includes an office. The former address of DEDICO GmbH at Bahnhofstrasse 21 in Zug also turned out to be a mailbox address only.

Attempts to reach Dharshan Rajakobal personally have been unsuccessful. According to neighbours, he is rarely present at his residential address in Fehraltorf.

BAKOM Subsidies

DEDICO GmbH was entitled to BAKOM subsidies of approximately CHF 18,000 for 2023. Part of this was disbursed, but BAKOM refused further payments citing the ongoing liquidation. The subsidies, intended to support digital radio broadcasting, were apparently not used to settle the associated infrastructure costs.