Bhubaneswar: Soumya Ranjan Patnaik has stepped down as the Editor of ‘Sambad’ Odia Daily which he had been editing since its inception in 1984. He also resigned as the Chairman of Eastern Media Limited owing to personal reasons.
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’.
The move comes 10 days after he was expelled from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), following a banner of revolt against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his trusted aide VK Pandian.
Patnaik’s expulsion was expected as his relationship with BJD had soured after his editorials questioned the touring of different districts by private secretary to Odisha CM & 5T V.K. Pandian by helicopters and addressing of public meetings which were allegedly of a political nature.
Amid this tussle, 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 and seized many documents and hard disks.
EOW claimed that Rs 50 crore of loan was fraudulently secured by the media baron between 2018 and 2023 using forgery and coercion.
