CBI begins preliminary enquiry into 2 newspapers getting govt advertisement with 'inflated' circulation figures

The CBI has started a preliminary enquiry against two persons and unidentified officials of DAVP for allegedly getting government advertisements worth Rs 65 lakh in three years to two newspapers by inflating their circulation figures, officials said on Thursday.

The newspapers were printing minimum copies needed to show their existent, but reporting circulation figures multiple times higher to get government advertisements with the help of unidentified officials of the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), they said.

It is alleged that these papers managed to get advertisements worth Rs 65 lakh from DAVP during 2016-19, they said.

A preliminary enquiry is done to assess allegations and if prima facie crime is established an FIR is registered, officials said.

The CBI had carried out a joint surprise check on 150 government offices on August 30 last year, during which the teams visited the printing press of these newspapers to find that they were publishing only around 100-200 copies to maintain records while inflating figures at the time of claiming government advertisements, they said.

"Action is in consonance with the CBI mandate of anti-corruption work," CBI spokesperson RK Gaur had said after the checks.

The joint surprise checks are primarily conducted at such points and places of corruption where common citizens or small business persons feel maximum pinch of corruption in government machinery, he had said.

This special drive will sensitise all stakeholders about possible avenues of corruption a common citizen faces while seeking services from such departments. It also strives to identify and highlight points and places vulnerable to corruption, Gaur had said.