against fake journalist Manjeet Singh, Ujala Punjab

            New Delhi, September 20, (Press Release) Complaints have been filed with top Indian officials, including Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, Information and Broadcasting Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishno, Labour and Empowerment Minister Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, and High Commissions in India, including the Canadian High Commission, The British High Commission, and the United States of American Embassy in India, as well as the Indian High Commissions in these countries. It is hoped that all these complaints will be resolved soon, and this will be a concrete step towards preventing such fraud in the future.

            According to reports, Manjeet Singh, the editor-in-chief of Dainik Ujala Punjab, contacted us via email and said he wanted to discuss his newspaper project in India. Upon speaking, we learned that we needed to have the newspaper’s pages processed. After some consultation, a team of eight people began working on the Urdu and English editions of Ujala Punjab. Since such a fraudulent practice had never occurred in journalism, there was no room for suspicion. The editor didn’t even ask for any advance payment. After months of work and procrastination, when asked for payment to continue, Manjeet Singh demanded an account number. After providing the bank account details, Manjeet Singh continued sending fake transfer invoices for months to encourage operators to work longer hours, citing RBI guidelines. Upon questioning, he was repeatedly told that the money would be credited to his account within a few days, and if it didn’t arrive, he would have his brother (who he claimed is an IAS officer) send the money from Punjab. In this way, months passed, forcing the operators to stop work, claiming there was no point in continuing without payment. Over the months, Manjit Singh tried repeatedly to restart work, promising that the money would arrive, but he still hadn’t received any. When Manjit Singh was convinced the operators wouldn’t work without payment, he blocked the phone numbers of all the operators’ team members to prevent them from contacting him. It’s worth noting that Manjit Singh, who was committing fraud under the guise of Ujala Punjab, had even sent a formal consent letter. Born in a city in Punjab, Manjit Singh has been operating this fraudulent business from there, having obtained Canadian citizenship and employing operators in India and other countries to produce his newspaper’s pages.