The Supreme Court had earlier turned down a plea from ARG Outlier Media Private Limited, seeking protection for the group and its employees from arrest.
Mumbai| The police here arrested Republic TV chief Vikas Khanchandani in the fake rating scam, making him the 13th person to be arrested in the case so far. Less than a week before, the Supreme Court had turned down a plea from ARG Outlier Media Private Limited, which owns the Republic Media network, seeking protection for the group and its employees from arrest. The arrest of the top executive comes shortly after that.
The group had accused the Maharashtra Police of “hounding” the media house, its Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and its employees. Justice DY Chadrachud said: “This petition is ambitious in nature. You want Maharashtra Police not to arrest any employee and transfer the cases to CBI. You better withdraw this.”
The channel’s Head of Distribution, Ghanshyam Singh, was earlier named in the 1,400-page charge sheet and two of the accused indicated that they will become approvers in the case.
An official of Hansa Research, Nitin Deokar, had filed the case in October. The agency that placed the rating metres, filed a complaint alleging the process was being manipulated.
The Mumbai Police, after investigating the matter, said Republic TV was tweaking ratings to get high advertising rates by bribing the households where the monitoring machines were set.
The households were being paid to keep certain channels on. In each house, the people were paid ₹ 400 to ₹ 500 a month, the police said in a press conference.
140 witnesses have been named in the charge sheet of the case, comprising of forensic auditors and members of BARC or Broadcast Audience Research Council, which assesses ratings.
Republic TV had said the accusations were a matter of vendetta by the Mumbai police following their clash over the Sushant Singh Rajput case and Palghar Lynching case.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
