Crime branch quizzes Republic CEO for 9 hours

MUMBAI: The Mumbai crime branch on Sunday questioned Vikash Khanchandani, CEO of Republic TV, for nine hours, in the Television Rating Points (TRP) rigging case, which involves alleged payments to homes where television sets were kept tuned to certain channels in order to boost their viewership.
Among other executives of the channel, police recorded the statement of COO Hersh Bhandari and questioned distribution head Ghanshyam Singh in Daman.Singh, who was at a resort, was brought to Nani Daman police station and questioned for seven hours.
The police, which wrote to a bank seeking details of Republic’s account, said it had received the statements. A police team from the economic offences wing (EOW) was examining the records.

Police also took arrested accused Vishal Bhandari (21), a former employee of Hansa Research Group Pvt Ltd, which installed the bar-o-meters in homes for measuring viewership, to his residence for a search. Investigators said they found a diary from Bhandari’s house which contained names of TV channels and households which received payoffs.

Police have so far arrested Bhandari, Bomapallirao Mistry (44), proprietor of Fakht Marathi Shirish Shetty (44), and owner of Box Cinema Narayan Sharma (47). They have claimed that Bhandari would pay Rs 400 to Rs 500 to some households, where bar-o-meters were installed, to keep specific channels or their TV sets on. Mistry is suspected of routing the payments.
Investigators have sought bank account details of Fakht Marathi channel and Box Cinema. “Sajjan Agarwal, CFO, Fakht Marathi, is expected to come on Monday. He stays in Indore,” said an officer.

Republic TV’s Khanchandani, Bhandari and Singh have been summoned on Monday again. Shiva Sundaram, CFO, Republic TV, has informed police that he will present himself after October 14. Sundaram was summoned to appear on Saturday but did not turn up.

Priya Mukherjee, COO Republic TV, was also summoned but she could not make it. “Mukherjee intimated us on Sunday morning that she was in Bangalore and was unable to come due to the pandemic,” added the police officer.
In a statement on Sunday evening, Republic TV said its CEO, COO and a senior member of the distribution team were questioned for 20 hours.
According to the statement, the channel was “shocked to learn” that while questioning its CEO, police made “multiple attempts” to ascertain how the channel managed to access the complaint by Hansa which “made multiple mentions of a rival channel without a single reference of Republic TV, Republic Bharat or any affiliate of the Republic Media Network.”
The channel said the complaint which forms the basis of the FIR was bereft of any mention of Republic.