Republic TV has been accused of manipulating its audience numbers.
Mumbai:
Republic TV’s chief financial officer was questioned on Saturday by Mumbai police in the investigation of allegations that the television station paid viewers to play its ratings and illegally obtain more advertising revenue, authorities said.
Shiva Subramaniyam Sundaram is the first senior official from the television network’s management to be summoned in the scandal that erupted on Thursday when the Mumbai Police revealed that an agency that tracks the audience had alleged that certain channels were manipulating the figures.
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.
Police said they intend to carry out a “forensic audit” of Republic TV’s accounts and the subpoena against Mr. Sundaram maintains that there are reasonable grounds to believe that he is “familiar with certain facts and circumstances of the matter.”
The police have also summoned the accountants of the other two channels and those of a couple of advertising agencies.
Four people, including the owners of the two smaller channels, have already been arrested in the case. Police have said that Republic TV and other accounts could be frozen if the channels were found to be making money from advertising using rigged ratings.
Republic TV has vigorously refuted the allegations and accused Mumbai police of vendetta because it had raised questions about their investigation into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and other stories that have criticized the Shiv Sena-led coalition government in the state.
Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami said he will sue Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh over the allegations and that “there is not a single BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) report mentioning Republic TV.” “The people of India know the truth. BARC has not mentioned Republic in any complaint,” he added.
According to police, the complaint in the case was filed earlier this month by Hansa Research, a BARC-designated company, which installs “people meters” to track the audience. The company said some former employees had shared details of the homes being tracked and helped manipulate ratings.
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