CBI Search Premises In Connection With Bank Fraud Case Against Aaj Ka Anand Papers Directors
The Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case against Aaj Ka Anand Papers Limited, its directors and unknown public servants following a complaint by the State Bank of India, Mumbai. The agency announced the action on 29 October 2026 and conducted searches at multiple premises in Pune, including office locations and residential properties linked to the company’s directors. Documents and digital evidence were recovered during the searches.
According to the CBI, the alleged wrongful loss to the bank by Aaj Ka Anand Papers Directors stands at 81.66 crore rupees.
- The agency suspects that business revenues were suppressed or misappropriated.
- It refers to the alleged alteration and falsification of books of account and electronic records.
- It claims that funds were diverted through current accounts outside the designated banking channels without the consent of the consortium lenders.
- The case includes allegations of criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.
The reference to unknown public servants indicates that the investigation is also examining the possible role of any public officials, though the agency has not publicly identified any such individuals or detailed their alleged roles.
The relationship between State Bank of India and Aaj Ka Anand Papers Limited predates the CBI searches by several years. Publicly available records show that the bank had already initiated insolvency proceedings against the company. The relevant case before the National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai Bench IV, was CP (IB) No. 760/MB/2021. State Bank of India filed the petition under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The tribunal admitted the petition on 31 March 2022 and commenced the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process.
Subsequent proceedings showed that the company could not be rescued through the resolution process. The Resolution Professional, Vineeta Maheshwari, filed an application seeking liquidation under Section 33(1) of the Code. The sequence recorded in the tribunal’s orders is as follows. On 31 March 2022 the insolvency petition was admitted. The Resolution Professional invited expressions of interest. Twelve parties sought the relevant documents, but no qualifying expression of interest was submitted by the deadline of 30 June 2022.
Further efforts, including republication of the invitation, led to a resolution plan being submitted. The Committee of Creditors rejected the plan. On 23 January 2023 the Committee approved liquidation with 100 percent of the votes. On 12 April 2023 the National Company Law Tribunal ordered the liquidation of the company. Jitender Kumar Jain was identified as the liquidator.
The resolution plan was rejected primarily because the resolution applicant insisted on the release of personal guarantees and mortgages provided by the guarantors. The Committee of Creditors did not agree to waive those security interests. A revised plan submitted on 10 January 2023 again sought the same release. Electronic voting between 16 and 22 January 2023 resulted in rejection of the plan with 100 percent of the votes. Liquidation followed. The company was therefore already in liquidation more than three years before the CBI searches of October 2026.
Corporate information records for Aaj Ka Anand Papers Limited, identified by Corporate Identity Number U22110MH1993PLC034813, report open charges of 398.26 crore rupees and satisfied charges of 36.11 crore rupees, with authorised share capital of 8.80 crore rupees. The reported lending-institution breakdown includes 153.26 crore rupees against SBICAP Trustee Company Limited, 127 crore rupees against State Bank of India’s Industrial Finance Branch, and 105 crore rupees against other institutions, for a total of 385.26 crore rupees under open charges.
An additional 13 crore rupees is reported under satisfied charges against the same State Bank of India branch. These figures represent registered charges and are not a verified statement of outstanding loan balances or of the amount alleged as wrongful loss in the CBI case.
A further significant development concerns the transfer of the newspaper business to a related entity. On 12 May 2021 Anand Shyam Agrawal and Navin Shyam Agrawal constituted Aaj Ka Anand Publications LLP. Both had earlier been promoters and guarantors of Aaj Ka Anand Papers Limited. They resigned from the company’s board on 2 September 2020. Family members were inducted as directors around the same time. The LLP’s incorporation occurred after State Bank of India filed its insolvency application on 12 April 2021.
Two agreements followed. On 30 June 2021 a Leave and Licence Agreement leased premises to the LLP. On 3 August 2021 a Deed of Usage transferred usage rights over the newspaper names, goodwill, plant and machinery for a consideration of 15 lakh rupees. The newspapers covered were Aaj Ka Anand, a Hindi daily; Sandhyanand, a Marathi daily; and Life 365, an English daily. The LLP subsequently sold products worth 1,37,34,660 rupees.
The liquidator challenged these transactions, arguing that the company’s business and assets had effectively been shifted to the newly incorporated LLP. The liquidator sought cancellation of the agreements, return of the newspaper business and related assets, and contribution of 2,68,00,701 rupees to the liquidation estate.
On 27 May 2025 the National Company Law Tribunal allowed the liquidator’s application in IA No. 908 of 2023. It directed cancellation of the agreements and ordered the respondents to pay 2,60,10,411 rupees, with interest at 12 percent per annum if unpaid beyond the stipulated period. The order was also directed to be forwarded to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India for proceedings under Sections 68 and 69 of the Code.
The suspended directors and the LLP challenged the order before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. In its judgment dated 19 December 2025 in Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) Nos. 959 and 960 of 2025, the appellate tribunal examined the sequence of events. It recorded that State Bank of India had issued a notice under Section 13(2) of the SARFAESI Act on 8 September 2017, informing the company and guarantors that secured assets could not be transferred by sale, lease or otherwise without prior written consent of the secured creditors.
Symbolic possession of the secured assets had been taken on 29 August 2018. Those assets included immovable properties, printing press machinery, current assets, plant and machinery, receivables and equipment.
The appellate tribunal held that the two agreements of June and August 2021 breached Section 13(13) of the SARFAESI Act and were therefore non-est and unenforceable. It further upheld the finding that the ingredients of fraudulent trading under Section 66(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code had been established.
The sequence involving resignation of the former directors, appointment of family members, incorporation of the LLP and transfer of the business demonstrated that the arrangements were intended to keep assets away from creditors. The tribunal upheld the direction for contribution of 2,60,10,411 rupees, comprising 1,22,75,751 rupees relating to electricity, rent, water and staff salaries at the Chakan factory premises and 1,37,34,660 rupees representing the value of products sold by the LLP. Both appeals were dismissed on 19 December 2025.
In a separate order of the same date, 27 May 2025, the National Company Law Tribunal dealt with IA No. 2931 of 2023 filed by the liquidator against Hiren Anand Agarwal and others. The liquidator sought recovery of 60.70 lakh rupees alleged to have been diverted.
Of this amount, 48 lakh rupees was recorded as educational expenses for Hiren Anand Agarwal’s Masters in Advertising at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London. The company’s audited accounts recorded the sponsorship, with management stating that a shareholders’ resolution had been passed on 10 September 2021.
The tribunal noted that the company had been classified as a non-performing asset on 27 September 2014, that SARFAESI proceedings had begun in 2017, that the insolvency petition was admitted on 31 March 2022, and that the business had already been transferred to the family-linked LLP on 3 August 2021. The decision to extend educational support was taken after the business transfer. The usage agreement provided no tenure or termination clause that would allow the corporate debtor to benefit from the investment.
Payments of 10 lakh rupees on 28 July 2021, 10 lakh rupees on 15 February 2022, 15.50 lakh rupees on 21 February 2022 and 20.50 lakh rupees on 31 March 2022 totalled 56 lakh rupees. The tribunal found these payments were made for personal benefit with intent to defraud creditors and directed refund of 56 lakh rupees with interest at 12 percent per annum, compounded monthly. The remaining 4.70 lakh rupees was treated separately in relation to salary.
Another proceeding, IA No. 2424 of 2024, concerns an amount of approximately 70.95 crore rupees. The liquidator alleged that former directors had caused 70,94,90,686 rupees to be written off as bad debts during the financial year 2020-21 despite the amounts having previously been considered recoverable. The respondents named were Ritu Anand Agrawal, Sarika Anand Agrawal and Hiren Anand Agarwal.
The liquidator sought restoration of the entire amount to the liquidation account with interest. A published account of the tribunal’s decision reports that the National Company Law Tribunal found the write-off fraudulent and directed the former directors to restore the amount with interest. This proceeding is distinct from the CBI’s 81.66 crore rupee case.
The original National Company Law Tribunal order of 31 March 2022 provides further detail on the banking relationship. State Bank of India stated that Aaj Ka Anand Papers approached it on 8 October 2004 seeking credit facilities of 15.27 crore rupees. The bank sanctioned the facilities on 1 January 2005. The facilities were later modified, enhanced and restructured. A Working Capital Consortium Agreement involving Axis Bank and Barclays Bank PLC was recorded on 30 October 2007. A Master Joint Lenders Forum Agreement followed on 25 June 2014.
A sanction letter involving State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company Limited was issued on 28 August 2014. A Security Trustee Agreement and Restructured Facility Agreement were executed on 26 September 2014, with SBICAP Trustee Company Limited appointed as common security trustee.
State Bank of India claimed the company first defaulted on 28 June 2014. The account was classified as a non-performing asset on 27 September 2014. A legal demand notice was issued on 16 August 2017. Proceedings before the Debts Recovery Tribunal were initiated in October 2018 claiming more than 112 crore rupees excluding interest. When the bank approached the National Company Law Tribunal in April 2021 it claimed a total default of 248,46,99,997.23 rupees.
Principal amounts outstanding as on 31 March 2021 under specific facilities totalled approximately 81.84 crore rupees across cash credit, working capital term loan, funded interest term loan and two term loans. Personal guarantees were provided by Shyam Gyaniram Agarwal, Anand Shyam Agarwal, Navin Shyam Agarwal, Vidya Shyam Agarwal and Ritu Anand Agarwal. Shares of the corporate debtor were pledged and a mortgage deed was executed on 26 December 2015.
The company contested the insolvency petition on grounds including limitation, disputes over the mortgage deed, alleged errors in interest calculation and disagreements over the cut-off date. It described itself as a newspaper business publishing three daily newspapers and employing approximately 150 permanent employees besides around 300 indirect workers. The tribunal rejected the objections, held that financial debt exceeding one crore rupees was due and payable and that default had occurred, and admitted the petition on 31 March 2022.
Aaj Ka Anand Papers Limited was incorporated on 14 December 1993 with registered office at 365 Shivaji Nagar, Aaj Ka Anand Building, Pune. Its publications included the Hindi daily Aaj Ka Anand, the Marathi daily Sandhyanand and the English daily Life 365. The Press Registrar General of India records the title Aaj Ka Anand under registration number 32038 dating to 19 November 1979. Anand Shyam Agarwal is identified as publisher of the relevant titles.
The principal financial figures arising from the various proceedings must be kept distinct. The 81.66 crore rupees is the wrongful loss alleged by State Bank of India in the CBI investigation of October 2026. The 248.47 crore rupees is the total default claimed by the bank in its 2021 insolvency petition. The 398.26 crore rupees represents open registered charges reported in corporate information records.
The approximately 70.95 crore rupees concerns the alleged fraudulent write-off of bad debts challenged by the liquidator. Separate orders concern the contribution of 2.60 crore rupees arising from the business transfer and the refund of 56 lakh rupees relating to payments to a suspended director. These amounts arise from different proceedings, different periods and different legal claims.
The CBI investigation remains at an early stage. The agency has recovered documents and digital evidence and continues its inquiries into the allegations of revenue suppression, falsification of records, diversion of funds and related offences. The earlier insolvency and appellate records establish a documented history of default, restructuring, insolvency admission, failed resolution, liquidation and findings concerning specific transactions involving the transfer of business assets and certain payments. Those records form part of the publicly available background against which the current criminal investigation is proceeding.
