Munger : In connection with the world famous 200 crore Dainik Hindustan Advertisement scandal of Bihar,the Bihar police(Munger) have served a police summons on the Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity(DAVP),the Govt. of India,Information & Broadcasting Ministry,New Delhi and have asked the Directorate to answer some questions of the police immediately.
The Directorate of DAVP(ND) has been asked by the Bihar police to state on what ground ,the DAVP allocated the 'Advertisement Rate' to the Bhagalpur & Muzaffarpur editions of the national Hindi daily 'Dainik Hindustan' from the year 2001 to till now.The Directorate has also been asked to give the police the details of the process of the publication of the government advertisements with guidelines if any since the year 2001.
''On what ground,the DAVP allocated the govt. advertisement rate to the Bhagalpur & Muzaffarpur editions of Dainik Hindustan since 2001'' is the basic question of the Bihar police in connection with the Munger Kotwali P.S Case No.445/ 2011. The police summons has been served by the sign and signature of Mr.Birendra Kumar,Inspector,Kotwali,Munger(Bihar) who has been now working as the Investigating Police Officer in connection with the Dainik Hindustan Advertisement Scandal under section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
''The section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that any officer -in-charge of a police station may issue a summons to any person to produce necessary or desirable documents/papers at the time and place stated in the summons for the purpose of any police investigation. In the summons, the Inspector has also warned the Directorate of DAVP to take legal actions against them if they fail to deliver the documents or answer the questions of the Munger police under section 175 of Indian Penal Code.
''The section 175 of Indian Penal Code states that any person, being legally bound to deliver up or produce any document to any public servant, shall be punished with an imprisonment for a month or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees or with both if the person intentionally fails to produce the document. The summons has been sent to the Directorate of DAVP,New Delhi by the Munger police by the registered post recently. This is for the first time since Independence that the Directorate of the DAVP(New Delhi) has been served a police summons by the Bihar police in connection with a forgery and cheating case.
The historical CJM's order: An R.T.I activist,Mantoo Sharma filed a complaint case,bearing No.993C/2011, in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate,Munger under sections 8(B),14 & 15 of the Press & Registration ofBooks Act,1867 and 420 ,471 & 476 of Indian Penal Code against Smt. Shobhana Bharatia and others.The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate,Munger ordered the Munger Kotwali police to lodge an F.I.R against Smt.Shobhna Bharatia,the Chairperson and Editorial Director of M/S Hindustan Times Ltd./later known as M/S H.T.Media Ltd. and now known as M/S Hindustan Media Ventures Limited and others.
On the order of the Munger C.J.M, the Munger Kotwali police on Nov. 18,2011, lodged an F.I.R , bearing the Kotwali P.S.Case No. 445/2011, dated Nov.18,2011, under sections 8(B),14 & 15 of the Press & Registration of Books Act, 1867 and sections 420 ,471 and 476 of India Penal Code against all the named accused persons.The named accused persons include Smt.Shobhana Bharatia(the Chairperson of the company), Shashi Shekhar(Chief Editor,Dainik Hindustan,New Delhi), Aku Shrivastawa(the Regional Editor,Dainik Hindustan,Patna),Binod Bandhu(the resident editor,Dainik Hindustan,Bhagalpur edition) and Amit Chopra( the Publisher of the company).
All allegations found prime-facie true: The Police Superintendent(Munger) P.Kannan and the Deputy Police Superintendent(Munger) A.K.Panchalar have submitted their supervision reports known as Supervision Report-01 and Supervision Report-02 respectively in connection with the Munger Kotwali P.S Case No. 445/2011.The S.P. and the Dy.S.P have found the case prime-facie true on the basis of documents and facts which have been made available to the police in the course of police investigation and supervision. Thus, the Munger police have found allegations of forgery and cheatings true against all the named accused persons u/s 8(B),14 & 15 of The Press & Registration of Books Act, 1867 and sections 420/471 and 476 of I.P.C.
The historical High Court order : The Honourable Justice of Patna High Court,Justice Anjana Prakash ,in her order dated Dec 17,2012, in two Criminal Miscellaneous Case Nos.2951/2012 and 16763/2012, directed the Munger Investigating Police officer to expedite the investigation and preferably conclude the same within a period of three months from the date of receipt of this order.
''In such circumstances, abiding by the established principle of law that court should exercise great restraint in quashing prosecutions at its inception and only under very exceptional circumstances, I am not inclined to interfere in the matter at this stage,'' the Honourable Justice Anjana Prakash opined in her historical order. High Court order is obeyed in true spirit: the Munger police have taken several steps to expedite the police investigation in connection with the Dainik Hindustan Advertisement scandal.(EOM)
Report by Kashi Prasad from Munger. You can contact him on Mobile No.09470400813.
हिंदुस्तान के इस विज्ञापन घोटाले के बारे में अधिक जानकारी के लिए क्लिक करें – हिंदुस्तान का विज्ञापन घोटाला
