Continuing its witch-hunt against Republic Media Network, the Mumbai Police on Sunday arrested CEO Vikas Khanchandani from his home in connection with the alleged “Fake TRP scam” case.
According to the reports, the Mumbai Police on Sunday barged into the residence of Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani to arbitrarily arrest him in the ‘Fake TRP case’. The arrest of Khanchandani comes just a month after the Mumbai Police had arrested and assaulted Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami in another 2018 suicide case.
https://twitter.com/LiveLawIndia/status/1337974608327143424?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe arrest of Republic TV CEO interestingly comes just a day ahead of his interim bail hearing, that was scheduled to be heard on Monday.
The Chief Executive Officer of Republic TV & Republic Bharat Vikas Khanchandani and its Chief Financial Officer Sundaram moved Sessions Court, Mumbai on Thursday seeking anticipatory bail in the fake TRP scam case registered by the Mumbai police.
Earlier, Republic TV has alleged that Ghanshyam Singh, assistant vice president of Distribution at the channel, was brutally tortured by the Mumbai Police while he was in their custody.
Republic makes national appeal to courts
Republic TV on Sunday made a national appeal to the courts to intervene to stop attacks on the independent news organisation.
Republic Chief Arnab Goswami said that the channel is going to move the Supreme Court but will reach out to High Court first. The channel is moving the Holiday Bench for bail. Earlier, Republic TV’s Ghanshyam Singh was made to spend 26 days in prison where he was allegedly tortured by the Mumbai Police. Prior to that, Arnab Goswami was also arrested by the Mumbai Police in Anvay Naik death case.
Fake TRP scam
On the 8th of October, Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh held a press conference where he categorically stated that Mumbai police have been alerted about a new racket involving false television rating points (TRP).
Param Bir Singh had specifically mentioned that Hansa Research had filed a complaint with the police. Interestingly, in this FIR that was filed by Hansa Research, Republic TV was not mentioned even once. The channel that was mentioned several times was India Today.