CBI’s Joginder Singh plays lead role in TV firm facing CBI probe

Singh also says he accepted the post on condition that Gandhi would not be on the same board — a curious contention, given that Gandhi and Rainbow Productions are synonymous. Gandhi, on his part, says he has quit the board though he continues to head Aarambh Advertising and Marketing, a sister company.

Singh also clarifies that he hasn’t joined to take part in the company’s daily affairs. ‘‘I write a monthly column on social issues like corruption for the company’s periodical Khas Khabor and I agreed to all this after acquainting myself with the cases against Gandhi’’, Singh said.

For all this, Singh will be entitled to all the perks decided by the Board — ‘‘Anywhere between Rs 1000 and Rs 4000 per sitting’’.

While Singh promises to steer clear of all cases against Gandhi, officials in Delhi said Singh’s joining Rainbow at this juncture did not augur well for investigators. ‘‘Gandhi’s name has not been cleared yet and figures in the ‘undesirable contact circular’ issued recently.’’

Officially, there are two cases pending against him registered by the CBI last year. Aarambh and a DD official were charged with conspiracy to bank free commercial airtime (when it was not permitted) on the daily Bengali feature film slot, causing a loss of nearly Rs 30 lakh per week to the public service broadcaster.

The other charge against him is of making the highly profitable Sunday movie slot a losing venture for DD.

The CBI set out on Gandhi’s trail when it discovered the latter had appropriated nearly 11 hours of programming out of the total telecast time of 18 hours on Calcutta Doordarshan Kendra. Singh claims Gandhi has been acquitted by the Calcutta High Court of the major charges levelled at him by the CBI. Gandhi, for his part, says at one time he contributed nearly Rs 35 crores to Calcutta DD Kendra — more than half of its revenues.