14 December,2020 07:10 AM IST | Mumbai | Faizan Khan
Republic CEO Vikas Khanchandani at Killa court on Sunday. Pic/Bipin Kokate
After filing a 1,400-page charge sheet in the TRP scam last month, the Crime Branch's Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested Republic TV's CEO Vikas Khanchandani on Sunday as part of the second phase of its probe. The Crime Branch claims that the top management of the channel was aware of the TRP manipulation. Khanchandani was produced in Killa court on Sunday and remanded in custody till December 15.
Republic CEO Vikas Khanchandani at the commissioner of police's office during his questioning in October. File pic
The Crime Branch also visited the residences of CFO Shiva Subramaniam Sundaram and two people who worked under the distribution head and vice-president Ghanshyam Singh - Shivendu Mulherkar and Ranjeet Walter, but they were not home. Singh was earlier arrested in the case and is out on bail. The trio has been shown as absconding in the remand application along with a few others.
"Sunday's operation lasted 11 hours during which we arrested the CEO of Republic TV. Searches are also being carried out at the residence of the CFO and two employees of the TV channel but they were not present in the house. We also searched at other locations. They are currently absconding," said API Sachin Vaze, par of the SIT.
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The Crime Branch said during the remand hearing that they have retrieved Khanchandani's WhatsApp chats with Singh containing discussions about dual-frequency manipulation (where the channel would be available at two channel numbers). Also, in various WhatsApp groups, the manipulation of the landing channel number (LCN) - where the channel would be available under different heads and would be aired for at least 31 seconds on the TV, without the user being able to change it - also took place. Khanchandani and Republic COO Priya Mukherjee are part of these groups.
The remand application mentioned 16 grounds for arrest. In its charge sheet filed on November 24, the Crime Branch had mentioned the roles of cable operators for LCN manipulation and promotion. In its continuing probe, the SIT might arrest cable operators too. "In the first charge sheet itself, we mentioned all kinds of manipulation of TRPs to get a high level of advertisements. Now we have enough evidence to prove that the top management was part of the scam. The role of cable operators is also under the scanner," said a senior Crime Branch officer.
Republic TV's lawyer Abad Ponda said that the charge sheet did not mention Khanchandani as a wanted accused and that he has been cooperating with the investigation. Ponda also said that Khanchandani's anticipatory bail application is to be heard on Monday and the arrest is way to defeat it. The CEO's arrest comes days after the Supreme Court turned down the channel's plea for protection for the group and its employees.
Dec 15
Day till when the CEO has been sent to police custody
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