The first chief of Prasar Bharati News Services﹘the news agency of India’s public broadcaster﹘was appointed despite holding positions in private companies in alleged violation of service guidelines, Newslaundry has learnt. Samir Kumar continues to be the PBNS director though a complaint was made to Prasar Bharati about his association with other firms and allegations of harassment.
A letter to union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur by a PBNS staffer had also pointed out that Kumar has no experience in journalism. An alumnus of IIT and IIM, Kumar was a director in Deutsche Bank in Singapore till May 2018, and ventured into the media industry in May 2019 when he joined Hindusthan Samachar as its CEO.
