Punjab cable TV rivalry intensifies: As cops raid ‘absconding’ Fastway owner Gurdeep Jujhar, SAD’s Majithia says ‘Emergency’

Jujhar, considered close to the Badal family, meanwhile, claimed innocence in at least 10 FIRs that he, his employees and operators face.

Claiming “vendetta” and “an effort to control media and cable TV business in the state” by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, Jujhar said he will be moving Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek a CBI probe in “fake FIRs”. Jujhar has been named as an accused in two of ten FIRs registered against Fastway employees and operators.

Earlier too, Jujhar had faced Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate raids in November 2021. He had been denying all charges against him.

Uploading a video on X, senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia wrote: “Emergency has been imposed in Punjab.. First Ajit Group and now all media groups are being harassed. This video is of a police raid at the house of Gurdeep Singh Jujhar, owner of Fastway…. Police is raiding media houses to ensure that the reality of Bhagwant Mann doesn’t reach common Punjabis”.

Jujhar and his associates have been booked in an attempt to murder FIR in Patiala on November 13, on the complaint of a cable operator alleging that he was attacked as he decided to work with some other company. In another FIR registered on November 16 at Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib, Jujhar was ‘nominated’ as an accused for allegedly cutting and stealing cable wires of a rival firm.

Advocate Abhishek Sharma, Jujhar’s company’s legal head said: “In another FIR registered at Mohali on November 23, Jujhar has also been named in the FIR for weaving a conspiracy to snatch a gold chain and Rs 10,000 cash. Company’s CEO Piyush Mahajan, vice-president Vishal Sabharwal and some others have been booked in these fake FIRs. We have already written a letter to the Chief Justice of India on November 26 demanding a fair probe”.

Sanjit Singh Gill, president, Punjab Cable Operators Association said that of nearly 7000 cable operators in the state, at least 4000 were associated with Fastway.

“The story of oppression began after the change of power in Punjab. Our wires were cut, our belongings were stolen in broad daylight, our families were also threatened and the police were acting as a party to all this. The wire cutters were being rewarded and no action was taken on our complaints. The High Court was approached against this hooliganism and illegal action. The court directed the District Police Officers to take appropriate legal action against the accused. We are continuously being threatened. Police should not harass small-time operators who earn 15000-20000 a month. A cable operator will only work with the company which is preferred by the customers,” said Gill in a statement.

Punjab DGP (law and order) Arpit Shukla, however, said that some business rivalry has been going on amid cable operators in some districts. “We have directed all SSPs and SHOs to be extremely fair in dealing with each complaint as per law and without any bias,” said Shukla.

The Opposition parties have always accused Badals of running “TV cable and transport mafia” in the state during the decade long SAD-BJP regime and “patronizing Jujhar Group’s businesses.”

Jujhar owns several companies dealing in cable TV, broadband services, real estate, transport and other businesses, having a turnover of at least Rs 1200 crore. Other companies operating under the Jujhar Group include Netplus Broadband Services Pvt Ltd, Jujhar Constructions and Travels Limited, Vigilant Media Private Limited (which owns media house Daily Post), BPL Media Pvt Ltd (running news channel Living India) among others. He also owns Grand Walk Mall in Ludhiana.

“Not a single business of mine is linked to Badals in any manner,” claims Jujhar, who was also accused of evading Rs 2600 crore service tax by former local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu during the previous Congress government.

Punjab AAP spokesperson Ahbaab Grewal said: “We are against any monopoly. Every Punjabi has the right to run any business. We do not believe in controlling media narrative or cable transmission like previous governments. Police will act according to the merit of the complaint without any political interference from the AAP government”.