TRP scam: Republic TV CEO, COO appear before Mumbai Police

NEW DELHI: Republic TV CEO and COO appeared before the Mumbai Police on Sunday for questioning in the ratings manipulation scam.


The crime branch of Mumbai Police had on Saturday issued summons to Republic TV's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vikas Khanchandani and two Chief Operating Officers (COO) for questioning in the fake TRP racket case.

Khanchandani and COO Harsh Bhandari, who appeared before the cops on Sunday, were questioned for 9 and 5 hours respectively.

The statement of Ghanshyam Singh, Republic TV's distribution head, was also recorded at Daman in the TRP case.

All three officials have been asked by the crime branch to appear again on Monday with documents.

The police have arrested four people in connection with the case so far.

It has recovered a diary from one of the arrested accused, Vishal Bhandari, which contains a list of channels, other than the three already named, and payment details to households.



Earlier, Republic TV's Chief Finance Officer Shiva Subramaniyam Sundaram and another official Ghanshyam Singh chose not to appear before the probe team saying that the news channel has approached Supreme Court.

Two employees of Box Cinema and Fakht Marathi channels were also summoned by the police's crime branch.


Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh had claimed that three channels including Republic TV manipulated the TRP.


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.
Select The Times of India as your preferred source on Google Search