IT Correspondent
Mumbai, Dec. 13:
The Mumbai Police arrested Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani in connection with its probe into the alleged Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation scam, on Sunday.
Khanchandani is the 13 th person to be arrested in the TRP scam so far. The Mumbai Police had filed a First Information Report on 06 October and started investigations following a complaint filed by Nitin Deokar, an official of Hansa Research, an agency that placed the ratings metres, alleging the process was being manipulated.
Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Milind Bharambhe, confirmed the arrest. Khanchandani who was previously questioned by the investigators two times, was arrested from his residence. He was being produced before the holiday magistrate’s court.
During the crime branch’s probe, it was revealed that some cable operators had used dual LCN (Landing Channel Number) technology which allowed viewing of one channel on two channel numbers at a time. The Republic TV officials also contacted cable operators to fix LCN and LCN promotion. Khanchandani knew everything as he was part of Republic’s internal WhatsApp group where discussions about LCN and Promotion LCN discussions took place, police sources said.
The fake TRO scam came to light in October when ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers. Hansa is one of BARC’s vendors on engagement with panel homes or people’s meters. TRP, measured by recording viewership data at sample households, is crucial for attracting advertisers. As per the police, some of these households were being bribed to tune into Republic TV and a few other channels.
Another of channel’s employee – western region distribution Head Ghanshyam Singh was arrested last month in connection with the alleged scam and was granted bail after 26 days, earlier this month. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Mumbai Police has arrested a total of 13 persons in the case so far.
Meanwhile, Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami moved the Bombay high court last week seeking a stay to further investigation by the Mumbai Police in the TRP manipulation scam. The petition, filed by Goswami and ARG Outlier Media which owns Republic TV, alleged that one of the employees of the firm was tortured by the police in custody. It sought protection for all employees from the “malicious witch hunt” allegedly being carried out by the Maharashtra authorities. Subsequently Republic TV moved the SC, but it refused to entertain the plea on last Monday saying the arguments were “ambitious”.
