Couple under CBI radar for pocketing Rs 62.24 lakh from Central government for publishing advertisements

By publishing just 500 to 1,000 copies of six newspapers but claiming to have a circulation of 1.5 lakh daily, a couple and their accomplice have allegedly cornered Rs 62.24 lakh from the Central government for publishing advertisements between 2016 and 2019.

However, they are now under the CBI radar after the agency concluded a more two-year-old investigation and registered a case against the trio and unnamed officials of the Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for illegally empanelling six newspapers owned by the couple for central advertisements.

While the CBI FIR pegs the amount at Rs 62.24 lakh for the period between 2016 and 2019, it said the amount may be more if calculated from the starting of the empanelment of the newspapers.

All started with a tip-off and a surprise check on 30 August 2019 during which investigators found out that the newspapers -- Arjun Times (Delhi), Health of Bharat (Delhi), Dainik Aman, Delhi Health, Arjun Times (Gwalior) and Health of Bharat (Gurgaon) -- did not meet the criteria set for being empanelled with the Ministry.

Harish Lamba, his wife Arti and their accomplice Ashwani Kumar, publisher of Arjun Times, have been named in the FIR on charges of submitting false documents, including certificates of Chartered Accountants.

"The newspapers are shown to have printed and circulated around 1.5 lakh copies (each containing eight pages) per day whereas the collective circulation of the said newspapers may not be more than 100-150 copies per day," the FIR said quoting the complaint by Inspector Sunil Kumar who conducted the preliminary enquiry.

In the case of Arjun Times published from Delhi, Lamba submitted the name of the printing press as that of Dolphin Pictography but its owner Darshan Singh Negi told the CBI that the newspaper was never printed from his press. Ashwani Kumar was shown as the publisher.

The declaration submitted in the name of Negi was found to be forged. However, BOC never released any advertisement to this newspaper and so no payment was made.

Arjun Times published from Gwalior received Rs 3.97 lakh. The Health of Bharat (Delhi) was printed from Ajanta Printers where 500 to 1,000 copies were printed but not regularly with documents showing that 18,421 copies were printed daily. The BOC had released Rs 19.63 lakh for publishing advertisements during 2016-2019.

Dainik Aman was claimed to have printed 27,600 copies daily and cornered Rs 35.58 lakh from the BOC during this period. Delhi Health Code also claimed to have inflated its printed copies to 40,000 and managed to get a payment of 35,931.