Soumya Ranjan Patnaik steps down as editor of Sambad

Tanaya Patnaik, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik’s younger daughter and executive director of Sambad Group, succeeds him

Published on: Oct 2, 2023, 18:25:15 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Media baron and senior politician Soumya Ranjan Patnaik stepped down as the editor of the Odia newspaper ‘Sambad’, which he had been editing since its inception in 1984.

The move comes 10 days after he was removed from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), following a banner of revolt against chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his trusted aide VK Pandian.

Patnaik’s stepping down was announced in a front page news in Sambad on Monday. Tanaya Patnaik, his younger daughter and executive director of Sambad Group, succeeds him. The report said that Patnaik was stepping down due to ‘personal reasons’.

For the last few months, Patnaik has been attacking chief minister Naveen Patnaik as well his private secretary VK Pandian, through his newspaper columns, decrying lack of democracy in the party. Last month, in a front page editorial of Sambad, he compared the tour expenses of Pandian to all the districts with the Chandrayaan 3 mission. In his writings, he asked if officers were more important than ministers while urging Pandian to resign from IAS and join politics. Patnaik also made an explosive statement that chief minister Patnaik thought all his ministers as incapable for which he gets his work done by the private secretary.

Amid the tussle with the chief minister and his secretary Pandian, Patnaik was named as an accused in a case of loan fraud in his company by the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Odisha Police. EOW officials raided the premises of Sambad following allegations that his company took crores of Rupees as loan from banks taken in the name of more than 300 employees of the newspaper by using fraudulent means and forged documents.

EOW claimed that ₹50 crore of loan was fraudulently secured by the media baron between 2018 and 2023 using forgery and coercion. “Forged salary certificates were allegedly submitted by the newspaper. Once loan was sanctioned, the amount used to be withdrawn in cash. The EMIs were then paid by the newspaper, which the EOW described as a “well thought out” conspiracy and an organised bank fraud.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

Naveen Patnaik

Home/Cities/Others/Soumya Ranjan Patnaik Steps Down As Editor Of Sambad