The SC allowed the canal to move to the Bombay High Court for relief.
The SC said it understands that the canal has an office in Worli, which is close to the Flora Fountain (where the HC is located). “I better move HC for relief,” SC said.
However, although it declined the statement, the SC said that “we are concerned that the police commissioners have begun conducting interviews” about the cases.
The channel’s attorney, Harish Salve, withdrew the petition to transfer HC.
Meanwhile, the criminal branch of the Mumbai police investigating the TRP fraud on Wednesday recorded the statement from a senior Republic TV editorial official. The police recorded the statement by Mumbai-based Republic executive editor Niranjan Narayanswamy and asked him to report back on Thursday along with senior executive editor Abhishek Kapoor.
The bogus TRP scam came to light when the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) rating agency filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain TV channels were tampering with TRP’s numbers.
It was alleged that some families in whose homes meters were installed to collect audience data were being bribed to tune into a particular channel.
Last week, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh had claimed that Republic TV and two Marathi channels, Box Cinema and Fakt Marathi, manipulated TRP to get better advertising revenue.
(With inputs from agencies)
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