TRP case approver claims ED made him record false statement under duress
The plea filed by Umesh Chandrakant Mishra claims that his statement, recorded before the metropolitan magistrate, is the only true statement.
An accused turned approver in television rating point (TRP) manipulation case, Umesh Chandrakant Mishra, has asked the Bombay high court’s permission to intervene in the petition filed by ARG Outlier and Republic TV editor in chief Arnab Goswami, claiming that the Enforcement Directorate took his December 18 statement under duress. He has urged the HC to allow his “correct” statement to be taken on record.
The plea filed by Mishra states that on November 12, his statement was recorded by a metropolitan magistrate at Esplanade mansion and the same was with the Mumbai police. He says he was summoned by the ED on December 18, when the agency's investigating officer resorted to threats and made him record a false statement under duress. The new statement, he claims, was contrary to the statement he had given to the metropolitan magistrate.
The intervention application further states that "the true and correct statement has not been recorded by the ED officer, but the same is recorded, which is not his true and correct statement."
The plea states that as he is required to produce the true and correct facts before the court for the cause of justice hence his intervention plea should be permitted.
The plea will be heard by the bench of justice S S Shinde and justice Manish Pitale along with the ARG Outlier matter on February 12.