NDTV denies reports that SpiceJet’s Ajay Singh set to take over

Time & Us
Last Updated: September 22, 2017 at 10:37 pm

New Delhi: Television news channel NDTV told the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday the company’s promoters did not enter any agreement to sell their stake.

The clarification came after an Indian Express report quoted sources as saying that SpiceJet owner Ajay Singh — part of the BJP’s 2014 election campaign — had acquired majority holding in NDTV.

“…Ajay Singh will take control of NDTV along with editorial rights,” a source told Indian Express.

 The report came months after the Central Bureau of Investigation launched an investigationinto alleged fraud by NDTV founders, a move the company said was an attempt to muzzle free speech.

Officials said the CBI filed a case against Prannoy and Radhika Roy over a loan, and police raided their New Delhi home and two holiday houses. The company said the allegations that the loan was unpaid were false, accusing the CBI of “concerted harassment of NDTV and its promoters”.

On Friday, in its letter to the BSE — the country’s second-biggest stock exchange – NDTV wrote: “The Company is mindful of its obligations under Clause 30 of the Listing Regulations of the BSE and shall promptly intimate it of any event required to be disclosed under the said regulations.”