Shiva Subramaniyam Sundaram, the channel’s chief financial officer, against whom a subpoena was issued on Friday, also asked the police not to record his statement saying that the high court hearing is scheduled within a week, the official said.
However, Sam Balsara, president and managing director of Madison World and Madison Communications appeared before the criminal branch on Saturday to record his statement, he added.
The Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Mumbai criminal branch had issued a subpoena against Sundaram and had been asked to join the investigation at 11am on Saturday.
However, he did not appear before the investigation team. He informed police that the channel has approached the Supreme Court and that there will be a hearing on the matter in a week. Citing this, he asked the police not to record his statement. “said the official.
Sundaram’s subpoena said there are reasonable grounds to believe that he is “familiar with certain facts and circumstances of the matter and they are required to be determined.”
The CIU of the criminal branch is investigating the false television Rating Points (TRP) fraud case.
In addition to him, the police had also summoned accountants from Marathi channels ‘Fakt Marathi’ and ‘Box Cinema’ and those from a couple of advertising agencies, he said.
On Thursday, police arrested four people, including the owners of Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema in the case.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh it had claimed that three channels, including Republic TV, manipulated the PRT.
The racket came to light when the Broadcasting Hearings Research Council (BARC), an organization that measures TRP, filed a complaint in this regard through Hansa Research Group Pvt Ltd, police said.
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