Former Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Iqbal Shaikh has approached the city civil court seeking a restraining order against the news channel Republic TV and its editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami from airing any material related to TRP scam. An FIR in the case has been registered at Kandivali police station.
Shaikh has moved a suit for defamation against Goswami and the channel for making comments against the police force in connection with the TRP scam. The suit is likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday. Shaikh, in the suit filed through advocate Abha Singh, has alleged that “when a case is under investigation under statutory provisions, the Defendant No. 1 (Goswami) cannot be granted the liberty to discuss his own case and arbitrate it in his own TV channels by defaming Mumbai Police.”
Shaikh has alleged that Goswami has been conducting debates and airing stories in connection with the case which may influence the investigation. “The Plaintiff submits that the Defendant No. 1 has transgressed his limits as an owner of two most popular TV Channels and has started pursuing his own agenda by being the Editor-in-Chief and by blurting out large sermons about his own case which is under probe by a statutory body,” read the suit. Republic TV is one of the three channels accused by Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh of manipulating television ratings.
Six people have been arrested by the Mumbai Police in the scam, which allegedly involves bribing homeowners whose TV viewing is monitored to ensure that certain channels get higher ratings. The ratings are a key influencer of advertiser preferences while placing commercials. The police claim this is a “multi-crore” scam.
The channel moved the high court seeking quashing of the FIR registered in the case and its transfer from Mumbai Police to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
SC asks Republic TV to move HC
The Supreme Court asked Republic TV to approach the Bombay high court with its grievance against Mumbai police’s probe into the alleged TRP scam but disapproved the Mumbai police commissioner resorting to press conferences on the issue. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee told the TV channel’s counsel Harish Salve that his client, “like any ordinary citizen of the country”, must approach the jurisdictional high court concerned to seek redress of grievances against any police investigation. “Your client has an office at Worli and it would be better if they walked to Flora Fountain (the location of the high court) which is nearby rather than invoking the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. We must have faith in our high courts,” it said.
Cops summon two Republic TV editors
The Mumbai crime branch probing the TRP manipulation racket is searching for two persons, including a relationship manager of Hansa Research, who officials believed to have extensive information on viewership rigging by a television channel.
The special investigation team led by assistant commissioner of police Shashank Sanbhor, while seeking remand of the five arrested accused, said that the police were looking for Dinesh Vishwakarma, employed with Hansa Research, and one Rocky. Police had earlier arrested Vishal Bhandari, a former relationship manager of Hansa Research, one of the persons who was allegedly assigned the work of paying households for watching certain channels. Republic TV, Fakt TV and Box Cinema are being probed for rigging the viewership numbers. Sources said that Hansa itself had mentioned in its complaint that two of its employees, Vishal Bhandari and Dinesh Vishwakarma, destroyed its reputation.
