MUMBAI: Mumbai Police on Friday issued a summons to Republic TV's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in connection with the Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation racket it is probing, an official said.
Shiva Sundaram, the CFO, along with founder Sam Balsara, and chairman and MD of Madison World Shishir Sinha, has been asked to record their statement in the case on Saturday.
Milind Bharambe, joint commissioner of police (Crime) said that all the three have been asked to reach the crime branch office in South Mumbai at 11 am on Saturday. “We have called them to record their statement under section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code.”
Bhandari, 20, Bompalli Rao Mistry alias Sanjiv Rao, 44, and Shirish Shetty owners of Fakt Marathi and Narayan Sharma owner of Box Cinema have been also arrested by Mumbai police. These accused were produced before the court on Friday which remanded them to police custody till October 13.
Reacting to the TRP scam, Union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted that, “Free press is a defining feature of our democracy and a cherished ideal of the Constitution. Trampling on media freedom will not be tolerated by the people of India. Targeting of the media by #Congress and its allies is against all principles of democracy and is unacceptable.”
Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that due to the manipulation tactics, the fourth pillar of India is facing trouble. “The credibility of TV channels is in question because of the BJP. The BJP used these channels for their political gain and get fake TRP. We demand a high-level probe in this scam by Mumbai police and no one should be spared,” Sawant said.