The Mumbai Police arrested Republic TV chief Vikas Khanchandani in connection with the fake rating scam of the channel.
He is the 13th person to be arrested in the case so far.The arrest of the top executive came less than a week after the Supreme Court rejected a plea from ARG Outlier Media Private Limited, which owns the Republic Media network, seeking protection for the group and its employees.”This petition is ambitious in nature. You want Maharashtra police not to arrest any employee and transfer the cases to CBI. You better withdraw this,” Justice DY Chandrachud had told the Group.Republic TV had earlier accused the Maharashtra Police of “hounding” the media house, its Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and its employees.
The Mumbai Police had filed a First Information Report (FIR) on Oct 6 and started investigations following a complaint filed by Nitin Deokar, an official of Hansa Research.The FIR names 140 witnesses, including forensic auditors and members of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) which assesses TRPs or Television Rating Points by monitoring select households.
