Mumbai police are investigating Republic TV for allegedly manipulating TRP. (Figurative)
Mumbai:
Mumbai police summoned two top Republic TV editors, accused of manipulating ratings, as part of their investigation into the alleged manipulation of ratings by three channels. The channel has called the latest call a “desperate witch hunt.”
Executive Editor Niranjan Narayanaswamy and Senior Executive Editor Abhishek Kapoor were summoned by Mumbai Police on Tuesday. They have been asked to appear before the Criminal Intelligence Unit at noon today.
On October 10, Republic TV had broadcast a document allegedly belonging to Hansa Research Group and “… there are reasonable grounds to believe that you are familiar with certain facts and circumstances of said document allegedly belonging to Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd. and you are required to find out the same, and Whereas it is necessary to record your statement in this regard and, therefore, you are instructed to provide such a document that supposedly belongs to Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd, “the subpoena police said.
The investigation into the alleged false ratings case is based on a complaint from Hansa, a private company involved in the audience evaluation.
The channel claimed that the police asked two editors to reveal the source of the documents that allegedly belonged to Hansa.
“It is shocking that the subpoena they were issued requires that they reveal the source of the complaint from Hansa Research Group Private Ltd (‘Hansa’) that beat up the lies that the state machinery in Maharashtra tried to sell against the news network,” he said. the channel. it said in a statement.
The channel accused Mumbai Police Chief Param Bir Singh of “desperate witch hunts” and compared the demand to reveal the sources to “days of emergency”.
Two television channel owners have been arrested and the directors and promoters of Republic TV are being investigated for rating fraud.
Police on Tuesday recoded the statements of two Hansa employees, Pravin Nizar and Nitin Deokar.
On Sunday, a senior Republic TV official was questioned.
Republic TV, which claims the highest TRP or television rating points among news channels, said they were under attack for their coverage of the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, where they have questioned the role of the Mumbai police.
The channel’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami said they will sue the Mumbai police over the allegations and that “there is not a single BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) report that mentions Republic TV.” “The people of India know the truth. BARC has not mentioned Republic in any complaint,” he said.
Republic TV is the biggest name to come up in early investigations with viewers testifying that they had been paid to keep the channel on even when they weren’t watching. The other two are local channels in Maharashtra called Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema.
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