Zee Group in crisis shuts DNA newspaper's Delhi edition

• Zee Group shuts the Delhi edition of its newspaper DNA
  
• Media mogul Subhash Chandra is under pressure from lenders
  
• Zee Group is also reportedly in talks to sell stakes in other businesses
  

Zee Media Group-owned English daily DNA bid goodbye to its Delhi edition with immediate effect. It will only retain a bureau in the Capital.

An inside source told IANS that the Delhi DNA office was now being converted into a bureau and the "management wants to concentrate on the main Mumbai edition."

DNA was a part of Diligent Media Corporation Ltd (DMCL) that was incorporated in 2005 as a joint venture entity of two media conglomerates -- Essel Group and Bhaskar Group. The first DNA edition was launched in Mumbai on July 30, 2005.

Post exit of Bhaskar Group in 2012, the company is now part of the Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) promoter Essel Group which is currently embroiled in money laundering allegations in the aftermath of the November 2016 demonetization.

Entertainment mogul Subhash Chandra's Essel Group, which is under pressure from creditors over Zee Entertainment Enterprises’ finances, is reportedly in talks to sell stakes in many of its businesses.

Chairman Chandra admitted in January that some bad investments in infrastructure projects and the purchase of a rival satellite TV business led to its downfall.

A news report alleged that Essel Group had links with another company that is being probed by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) for deposits of over Rs 3,000 crore after demonetisation.

Essel Group’s merger of its direct-to-home services with that of Videocon is the other contentious issue that has the two sides fighting a legal battle.


The lenders have allowed time for the company to find buyers.

(With IANS inputs)
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