The Republic TV’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) did not appear before the Mumbai police on Saturday for questioning in connection with the Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation racket, saying that the channel has filed a petition before the Supreme Court.
Republic TV’s CFO Shiva Subramaniyam Sundaram requested police not to record his statement since the channel has approached the Supreme Court, the hearing of which is scheduled within a week.
“He did not appear before the probe team. He informed the police that the channel has approached the Supreme Court and that there will be a hearing on the matter within a week. Citing this, he requested the police not to record his statement,” an official said.
Statement by Republic TV’s CFO Shiva Subramaniyam Sundaram.
The Mumbai Police had issued summons to Republic TV’s CFO on Friday. The summons to Sundaram said there are reasonable grounds to believe that he is “acquainted with certain facts and circumstances of the matter and the same is required to be ascertained”.
The Mumbai Police had also asked several officials from advertising agencies to join the probe.
Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director of an ad agency, Madison World and Madison Communications, appeared before the crime branch on Saturday to record his statement, the official said.
The CIU of the crime branch is investigating the fake Television Rating Points (TRP) racket case.
The Mumbai Police has also roped in the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) along with the Mumbai Crime Branch to probe the TRP scam.
According to sources, the EOW will investigate the diversion of funds and proceeds of crime in terms of advertising revenue earned by fake TRPs.
Moreover, expert forensic auditors will dig into forensic audits on financials of Republic and other two channels.
On Thursday, the Mumbai Police claimed it has busted a TRP racket involving three TV news channels — Republic TV, Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, in a press conference, had said the Mumbai Police has evidence that the three channels were involved in a TRP fraud and cheated advertisers.
The racket came to light when the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) an organization which measures TRP, filed a complaint in this regard through Hansa Research Group Pvt Ltd, the police said.
Meanwhile, a local court in Mumbai sent four people accused in the TRP scam to police custody till October 13. They include Narayan Sharma (owner of Box Cinema) and Shirish Shetty (owner of Fakt Marathi).
(With inputs from PTI)
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