The rumour mill has gone into overdrive again at Subhash Chandra's corporate offices. The grapevine has it that RK Singh, chief executive, Playwin Infrawest, Essel Group, has left the company as of yesterday.

It is not clear what exactly the circumstances of his leaving involved, but when contacted, Singh, who is in Chandigarh at the moment, would only say that he is on leave.

Singh joined Zee Telefilms in September 1999 replacing Vijay Jindal as CEO. He came on board Zee from ESPN Software where he was CEO. In December 2000, after AT Kearney submitted its report on restructuring the organisation, Singh was made group head of corporate services.

His tenure there was however, shortlived as five months later Sandeep Goyal joined the organisation as Zee group broadcasting CEO. Singh was subsequently put in charge of new Essel Group company Playwin Infravest - closely held by Chandra and members of his family - which marked the group's entry into the online lottery business.