CBI raid on DDK Srinagar

·        Record of Shami Shair’s programmes seized

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Sep 21: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today swung into action while seizing record of the lately removed Head of Programme, Shami Shair, whose whereabouts were not known to the officials.

Authoritative sources revealed to Early Times that a team of officials from CBI’s Jammu office appeared at DDK Srinagar at 0945 hours today and produced an authority letter to Deputy Director General (DDG) Engineering, Aftab Ahmad. The letter made clear that CBI needed to scrutinize record of certain programmes in the wake of reports and a substantive complaint suggesting large-scale irregularities in approving and telecasting these programmes. Payment made and to be made on account of these programmes would also be scrutinized with identification and verification of all payees.

In an hour of the arrival of the CBI team, DDG Aftab Ahmad received another communication by fax from Directorate General of Doordarshan in New Delhi, asking the head of the station to ensure that everybody at the Kendra cooperated with the investigating team and provided to it all facilities and records required during the process. DDK head was also directed in the same communication that a separate room be reserved and provided to the CBI team as long as it was needed for the purpose of carrying out the investigation.

Sources said that DDG Engineering, Aftab Ahmad, and the new Head of Programme and DDP, Qayoom Wadera, accordingly cooperated with the CBI officials and asked subordinate officials to fully cooperate with the team. As requisitioned by the team, records of the flagship programmes, particularly ‘Krishi Darshan’ of the union Ministry of Agriculture, were provided to the CBI. Attached Head of Programme and DDP, Shami Shair, has functioned as Producer of most of the Government of India’s flagship programmes for the last over ten years.

However, most of the records of these programmes were not available. The CBI team was told that Mrs. Shair has retained these records under her own lock and key in a room which was reserved for her as Deputy Director of Programmes at the Kendra. The team learned that Mrs. Shair had engaged a retired producer of the Kendra, namely Ghulam Nabi Dar, for getting the programme produced through a particular cameraman while as an outsider, namely Parveena, used to fill up and carry contracts and details of the payees.

CBI officials went to open the room but found it locked from outside. Sources said that in a while, current Head of Programme, Qayoom Wadera, put another lock and the room was sealed. Sources said that the CBI officials also contacts Gh Nabi Dar by telephone but he maintained that all the records were in Mrs. Shair’s personal custody. Mrs. Shari’s telephones were reportedly switched off continuously and her whereabouts were being traced amid rumours that she had flown to Delhi to seek intervention of some influential politicians and bureaucrats to stall the CBI investigation.

Efforts were being made to contact her husband, namely Malik Mansoor Vellayat, who happens to be an incharge Chief Engineer in the state Power Development Department.

Sources said that the CBI officials were in possession of a detailed complaint which mentioned specific details about the payees of Mrs. Shair’s programmes including tape numbers. There are serious allegations that footage of different segments has been repeated scores of times and fresh payments have been claimed each time.

Large number of Betacam tapes are alleged to have been simply transferred to the modern DVC Pro-50 format and the programme contents claimed to be fresh during the process of payment in collusion with the retired Administrative Office Mr Beg, who also functioned as Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) of the Kendra for several years. He has been placed under suspension by Directorate General of Doordarshan days before his retirement earlier this year.

According to the reports and this particular complaint, most of the payees of Mrs. Shair’s programmes, particularly those of ‘Krishi Darshan’, were her relatives, friends, neighbours and acquaintances.

Sources said that the CBI would carry out a preliminary investigation in view of all reports and complaints of irregularities against senior DDK Srinagar officials, including Dr Rafeeq Masoodi and Shami Shair, and, if established, file necessary FIR and conduct the full investigation.

DD’s Central Vigilance Cell, which functions under Chief Vigilance Officer, has reportedly already established serious charges of corruption and malpractices against Dr Masoodi and the investigation is being assigned to CBI for determination of criminal culpability. Prasar Bharti has already initiated its ‘Departmental Action’ while placing Masoodi under suspension. A two-member team spent days in Srinagar recently to investigate some irregularities and misuse of official position.

However, some of the official sources said that their subject of investigation was appointment of some junior officials against cash payment of Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh from each. These sources insisted that the official under the fresh scanner was the recently removed Head of Programmes.

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How Srinagar DD officials looted exchequer with impunity

·        Hundreds of ‘in-house’ serials approved @ 20% “advance commission”

·        Allottees include dozens of fictitious names

·        Unauthorized liability of Rs 37.53 Cr created in a few months of loot-and-scoot

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Sep 20: With the two-year-long Early Times campaign heading for its logical conclusion and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launching a fresh exercise to crack the network of corruption, it has now become clear that officials under the headship of Dr Rafeeq Masoodi have created unauthorized liability of Rs 37.53 Crore in a few months at Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) Srinagar. Even as some fiction and musical serials have been approved in the infamous “in-house” category for certain genuine private producers, it has been observed that most of these hundreds of proposed serials have been “approved” for either unknown and fictitious persons or those having no knowledge or legitimate connection with the electronic media.

Well-placed and informed sources disclosed exclusively to Early Times that before his departure from DDK Srinagar, Dr Masoodi had sought “gunny bags of proposals” from a coterie of his subordinate officials and approved them in bulk, mostly in the first six months of year 2011. In July 2011, he was shifted to DD headquarters and replaced as Head of Programme by DDP Shami Shair. All these surreptitiously approved and telecast programme serials were processed allegedly on “advance commission of 20% of the approved budget”. With the exception of some senior private producers, all the beneficiaries are alleged to have paid bribes in lieu of “approval”. Mostly drama and musical serials, these proposals of “private producers” were categorized as the DDK’s own “in-house” productions.

Even as most of the facilities, including studio, sets, make up, transport, cameras, editing suites, graphics, lights and costumes were very much available in DDK’s own stores, payments were processed in the name of “private facility providers”. Names of the “facility providers” were obviously collected from the beneficiary private producers who submitted these proposals through DDK’s regular Producers and got the “approval” from the Head of Programme.

Sources said that inquiries have revealed that not more than 20 of these private producers, who remained all under shadow, were senior and genuine professionals. Only the Kendra’s regular Producer knew as to which serial belonged to which private producer. According to these sources, over 90% of these proposals belonged to unknown persons who gave fictitious names of the payees---in whose name cheques were and would be drawn on account of providing different facilities.

Sources said that hundreds of tapes “even in gunny bags” landed secretly in DDK Srinagar stores. While as many of these programmes were telecast, mostly remained untelecast and a cumulative liability for DD.

It was in just few months that Dr Masoodi and his subordinate Producers created the whopping liability of Rs 37.53 Crore for the key head of Programme Professional Special Services (PPS). There is a particular quarterly ceiling for PPS which the Kendras can not exceed under any circumstances.

Immediately after Dr Masoodi’s transfer, DD headquarters asked about this huge pile of tapes and liabilities. None other than Masoodi’s successor, Shami Shair, communicated to DG Doordarshan, through ADG Venkateshawarlu, under No: DKS/PA-1P-2011 Dated 21-07-2011, that the volume of PPS liability at DDK Srinagar was a whopping Rs 37.53 Cr till 8-7-2011.

According to her official communication, a copy of which is in possession of Early Times, just eleven of DDK Srinagar’s regular Producers have created huge liability of Rs 31 Crore. They include Mrs. Shair herself who had got ‘in-house’ programmes to the tune of Rs 1.04 Cr approved from Dr Masoodi.

Transmission Executive Rajeev Sadhu tops the list. He has created liability of Rs 7.36 Crore. According to Mrs. Shair’s official letter, contracts to the tune of Rs 68,10,000 of Mr Sadhu’s programmes were lying with Accounts Section. Other of his “in-house” programmes to the tune of Rs 1.32 Crore had been approved and telecast, while as programmes worth Rs 5.31 Crore were yet to be telecast and paid.

On this very communication, Mandi House had frozen telecast and payment of all these scandalously made proposals and launched a departmental investigation last year. Most of the people associated with DD have been demanding that this lot of programmes should be fully canceled and the DDK officials booked in criminal matters.

Rasheed Javed, who has recently retired, has created a liability of Rs 4.10 Crore. He is closely followed by Programme Executive Haleema  Parveen who has created liability of Rs 3.82 Crore. Programme Executive Javed Bukhari has created liability of Rs 3.64 Crore, Film Editor Tanveer Hussain Mir Rs 2.73 Crore, Pr Ex Sudesh Bakshi Rs 1.70 Crore, now retired Pr Ex Ghulam Mohiuddin a liability of Rs 1.32 Crore, Cameraman Mushtaq Ahmad Khan Rs 1.24 Crore, Floor Manager Bashir Ahmad Dar Rs 1.13 Crore and DDP Qayoom Wadera, who is new Head of Programmes at DDK Srinagar, has also created liability of Rs 1.17 Crore.

Even as total liability of Rs 1.17 Crore has been shown against the programmes proposed/ produced by Mrs. Shair, some insiders insist that she had concealed liability of over Rs 2 Crore in her communication. Interestingly, maximum of her liability is reported to have been cleared during her tenure of 15 months.

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Top liability creators of DDK Srinagar during headship of Dr Rafeeq Masoodi.

S. No	Name of Programme Officer (Producer)	Amount of liability created
1	Rajeev Sadhu [Transmission Executive]	Rs 7.36 Crore
2	Rashid Javed [Programme Executive]	Rs 4.10 Crore
3	Smt Haleema Parveen [Programme Executive]	Rs 3.82 Crore
4	Javed Bukhari [Programme Executive]	Rs 3.64 Crore
5	Tanveer Hussain Mir [Film Editor]	Rs 2.73 Crore
6	Smt Sudesh Bakshi [Programme Executive]	Rs 1.70 Crore
7	Gh Mohiuddin [Programme Executive] retd.	Rs 1.32 Crore
8	Mushtaq Ahmad Khan [Cameraman]	Rs 1.24 Crore
9	Bashir Ahmad Dar [Floor Manager]	Rs 1.13 Crore
10	Qayoom Wadera [Dy Director Programme]	Rs 1.17 Crore
11	Smt Shami Shair [Dy Director Programme]	Rs 1.04 Crore
12	Gh Hassan Dar [Programme Executive] retd.	Rs 1.81 Crore
	Others	Rs 6.47 Crore
	Total unauthorized liability created	Rs 37.53 Crore

Break-up of the unauthorized financial liability of Rs 37.53 Cr created by various Producers (including Floor Managers, Cameramen, Film Editors and Make-up masters who were given assignment of Pruducer) during headship of Dr Rafeeq Masoodi at Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar in 2009-11.

	Name of Programme Officer	Programmes Approved/Telecast	Programmes Approved/Untelecast	Amount of total liability created
1	Smt Shami Shair	Rs 82,56,000	Rs 22,40,000	Rs 1,04,96,000
2	Syed Zeeshan Fazil	Rs   2,40,000	Rs 53,90,000	Rs    56,30,000
3	Qayoom Wadera	--	Rs 1,17,00,000	Rs 1,17,00,000
4	Javed Bukhari	Rs 62,90,000	Rs 3,01,84,000	Rs 3,64,74,000
5	Rashid Javed	Rs 2,02,62,000	Rs 2,07,97,000	Rs 4,10,59,000
6	Smt Haleema Parveen	Rs 1,14,95,000	Rs 2,67,18,000	Rs 3,82,13,000
7	Nasir Mansoor	Rs 52,11,000	Rs 1,03,90,000	Rs 1,56,01,000
8	Smt Sudesh Bakshi	Rs 36,74,000	Rs 1,34,00,000	Rs 1,70,74,000
9	Mufti Riyaz	Rs 68,85,000	Rs 20,50,000	Rs 89,35,000
10	Gh Mohiuddin	Rs 62,50,000	Rs 70,20,000	Rs 1,32,70,000
11	Satish Dhar	Rs 68,34,000	Rs 20,80,000	Rs 89,14,000
12	Rajeev Sadhu	Rs 2,00,92,700	Rs 5,35,31,600	Rs 7,36,24,300
13	Tanvir Hussain Mir	Rs 1,72,000	Rs 2,71,90,000	Rs 2,73,62,000
14	Mushtaq Khan	Rs 13,60,000	Rs 1,10,89,000	Rs 1,24,49,000
15	M Akram Ganai	Rs 7,48,000	Rs 23,41,000	Rs 30,89,000
16	Bashir Ahmad Dar	Rs 28,25,000	Rs 85,02,000	Rs 1,13,02,000
17	Gh Jeelani	--	Rs 23,40,000	Rs 23,40,000
18	Smt Kousar Parveen	Rs 85,75,000	--	Rs 85,75,000
19	Gulrez Qureshi	Rs 23,30,000	--	Rs 23,30,000
20	Gh Hassan Dar	Rs 14,00,000	--	Rs 14,00,000
20	Gh Hassan Dar	--	Rs 1,67,15,000 [old morning show ‘Subhai Subhai’]	Rs 1,67,15,000
	Others			Rs 88,08,500
			Total unauthorised liability created	Rs 37,53,60,800