Zee-owned English newspaper DNA has decided to shut down its operations leaving the journalists working for the paper in a state of shock. The newspaper carried a letter from the editor in its Wednesday edition stating that the broadsheet will cease to exist from Thursday.

The letter from the editor read, “We thank each one of you for the print readership over the past 14-years. The print publication for Mumbai Ahmedabad will be ceased effective 10th October 2019, Thursday till further notice.”

The letter also said that those readers, who held subscriptions of the newspaper, could now contact the office for the ‘applicable refund.’ It said that DNA will now henceforth exist as a web-only platform adding that the media entity will soon ‘launch the DNA Mobile Application with more focus on video-based original content.’

According to some journalists, the news of the newspaper shutting down its operations came as a shock to its own reporters. Journalist Jatin Gandhi wrote, “Anxious journalists and other employees taken by surprise, in a past midnight mail asked to attend a Town Hall at 11 am.”

Anxious journalists and other employees taken by surprise, in a past midnight mail asked to attend a Town Hall at 11 am. — jatin gandhi (@jatingandhi) October 9, 2019

The development comes just days after Punit Goenka made an extraordinary clarification that his father and Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra had not fled India. He had tweeted, “It has been brought to my notice that certain mischief makers have insinuated that my father and our Chairman Shri @SubhashChandra has left the country. Vide this tweet, I wish to clarify straightaway, that He is very much in Mumbai at home.”

Earlier this year, Chandra-owned Essel Group had struck a deal with the lenders on servicing its debt. on 20 September, share prices of Chandra-owned Zee Entertainment had hit a 52-week low of Rs 277.95. This was after some reports suggested that the company’s promoter had been restricted from selling the stake in the media company. According to a report by the Moneylife website, a Delhi High Court-appointed arbitrator had restricted Chandra from selling unpledged ZEE shares till 16 October.

In January this year, Chandra had written an extraordinary open letter to his investors by apologising for the bloodbath in the stock market that saw the company’s combined value take a beating of Rs 13,353 crore.