Mumbai: ‘Republic TV’ editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami moved Thursday the Bombay High Court. He is seeking a stay to further investigation by the Mumbai police in the alleged Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation scam. The petition has been filed by Arnab Goswami and and ‘ARG Outlier Media’ which owns ‘Republic TV’. It also alleged that one of the employees of the firm was tortured by the police in custody. The petition also sought protection for all employees from the ‘malicious witch hunt’ allegedly being carried out by the Maharashtra authorities.
Ghanshyam Singh, ‘assistant vice-president, distribution’ of Republic TV was arrested November 10. He was ‘tortured, beaten and harassed in custody’, the petition alleged. Singh was given bail last week.
The police was working in a ‘pre-determined manner to falsely implicate’ Goswami and others from ARG Media. They are trying to do so by ‘influencing witnesses, and extracting false statements against the petitioners’, the petition alleged.
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The court should, therefore, transfer the probe to the CBI or any other independent agency, the petition said. It is yet to be listed for hearing.
When contacted for reaction, senior police officials refused to comment.
TRP, measured by recording viewership data at sample households, is crucial for attracting advertisers. As per the police, some of these households were being bribed to tune into ‘Republic TV’ and a few other channels. ‘Republic TV’ has denied wrongdoing.
