Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani
Mumbai: Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani remanded to police custody by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court Mumbai till December 15 in alleged TRP manipulation case uncovered in October, reports ANI.
On Thursday,Chief Executive Officer of ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd (owner of Republic TV & Republic Bharat) Vikas Khanchandani and its Chief Financial Officer Sivasubramanian Sundaram had moved Sessions Court, Mumbai seeking anticipatory bail in the fake TRP scam case registered by the Mumbai police apprehending arrest.Khanchandani , who was earlier quizzed by police,was arrested from his home in Mumbai early morning today just ahead of his anticipatory bail plea hearing.It came just after Arnab Goswami's plea to get protection for Republic TV journalists was rejected by the Supreme Court.
As well as calling the arrest "illegal", Republic TV alleged the police had no formal paperwork to arrest Khanchandani.
"I am requesting people of the country to raise their voice against these methods of Mumbai police…[they are] now picking up matters that are under the purview of telecom regularity authority of India. It is illegal and stupid," said Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami.
"[Khanchandani] has been through 100 hours of interrogation and they have not managed to get anything from him. I am making an appeal to people of India to raise their voice against the gross illegality by Mumbai Police," said Goswami in his statement to Republic TV.
Republic TV Assistant Vice-President Ghanshyam Singh was released, after 26 days in custody, on bail from Taloja Jail on Saturday. He is the 12th person to be arrested as part of the TRP scam case.
The Television Rating Points scandal has consistently been linked to Republic TV by the Mumbai Police.
Two accused, Ashish Choudhary and Abhishek Kolwade had earlier confessed to having paid money to rig TRP ratings for Republic TV from 2017 onwards.
Other channels involved include Fakht Marathi, Box News and Maha Movies.