MUMBAI: Republic TV Executive Editor Niranjan Narayanswamy and Senior Executive Editor Abhishek Kapoor appeared before the Mumbai Criminal Branch on Wednesday to record statements in the false TRP scam case.
Narayanswamy arrived at the office of the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) at 12 noon, while Kapoor, which is based in Delhi, arrived around 4 pm, an official from the criminal branch said.
Republic TV on October 10 had broadcast a document that allegedly belonged to the Hansa Research Group.
The subpoena issued to Narayanswamy and Kapoor on Tuesday said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that they were “familiar with certain facts and circumstances in the document,” so it was necessary to record their statements.
In a tweet, Republic TV said: “Senior Executive Editor Abhishek Kapoor arrives at Crime Branch after being summoned. Republic Media Network will not relent when revealing sources.”
In another tweet, the news channel said: “Republic Media Network supports our Executive Editor Niranjan Narayanaswamy and Senior Executive Editor Abhishek Kapoor. Republic fully defends the right of the media to report and protect their sources.”
So far, the criminal branch has arrested five people in the case.
The alleged fake TRP scam came to light when the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) rating agency filed a complaint through the Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were tampering with TRP’s numbers.
It was alleged that some families in whose homes meters were installed to collect audience data were bribed to tune in to a particular channel.
Last week, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh claimed that Republic TV and two Marathi channels, Box Cinema and Fakt Marathi, manipulated TRP to get better advertising revenue. Republic TV dismissed Singh’s claims.
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