TRP fraud: 3 employees of Republic TV questioned by Mumbai Police

The Mumbai Police’s crime branch questioned three senior employees of Republic TV, namely CEO Vikas Khanchandani, COO Harsh Bhandari, at the Mumbai Police headquarters

The Mumbai Police’s crime branch questioned three senior employees of Republic TV, namely CEO Vikas Khanchandani, COO Harsh Bhandari, at the Mumbai Police headquarters while the channel’s distribution head Ghanshyam Singh was questioned by another crime branch team in Nani Daman police station in connection with the TRP manipulation case.

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Khanchandani, Bhandari and Singh have been summoned again by crime branch for questioning on Monday. The police also served them notice under section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc) to come along with certain documents related to advertisement and modes of revenue generation.

The summons were sent to Khanchandani and Bhandari on October 10. Khanchandani reached the Mumbai Police headquarters at 9am and left around 6pm after around nine hours of questioning while Bhandari he reached the headquarters at 1pm and left after 5 hours at 6pm.

Singh was summoned for the second time as he had responded to the first summon sent to him on October 9 stating that he was out of the city till October 16. Citing that a writ petition has been filed before the Supreme court of India (provisional application number 7848/2020) and an early listing has been requested, he had also asked the police to defer the summoning till the Apex court hears his application.

“The crime branch team traced his location to Sandy resort in Daman where he was staying. He initially refused to cooperate with the Mumbai Police saying he was in Daman. However, Daman Police was with us, so he could not avoid and was taken to Nani Daman police station where his statement was recorded for around seven hours,” said inspector Sachin Vaze, who is in-charge of the crime intelligence unit and also part of the investigating team. “Singh has been asked to come again on October 12 and produce certain documents such as cable operators’ details and contract with the DTH operators,” added Vaze.

During inquiry, when Khanchandani was asked to share the working procedure of the channels, he replied that whatever is aired has nothing to do with him as that is an editorial concern. Vaze said, “Republic TV had shown a report on October 11 claiming they have a report which was submitted by Hansa Research Private Limited, which is responsible for installing and maintaining barometers of Broadcast Audience Research Council, to Mumbai Police but was leaked. But when we inquired, we found that it was undated and an unaddressed document which was shown as Hansa’s documents.”

“Mumbai Police’s crime branch has initiated another inquiry on it. It [the document] appears to be fake, and during questioning, Khanchandani showed his inability to explain the report,” added Vaze.

The channel’s chief financial officer (CFO) Shiva Sundaram was also summoned to the police headquarters for questioning under section 160 of CrPC on October 10. However, he wrote to Mumbai Police stating he would be available to join investigations by October 14-15 and asked the Mumbai Police to not proceed with the probe till a writ petition in the matter was heard by the Supreme Court.

“On October 11, he intimated Mumbai Police’s crime branch that he and his mother are not well, as well as due to Covid-19 reason. He did not come but said he was ready to cooperate with the investigation and would come after October 14,” said Vaze. Sundaram in his letter stated, “I refer to the above summons issued by you on October 9, 2020 asking me to be present at your office on October 10, 2020 at 11am for the purpose of your investigation in the subject First Information Report. At the outset, I would express my commitment to cooperate in the said investigations.”

The letter then goes on to request the Mumbai Police to halt investigations till the hearing of the writ petition filed before the Supreme Court was heard. “I wish to bring to your notice that a writ petition under Article 32 has been filed before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India (Provisional application number 7848/2020) in relation to the above referred matter and we have requested for an early hearing and it is likely to be listed by next week. Given that the matter is to be listed soon before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, I request you to not proceed any further with the investigations in so far as Republic TV and its employees are concerned. We will join the investigations subject to the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.” Sundaram further stated, “I would also like to inform you that on account of some personal commitments, I am scheduled to travel outside Mumbai for the next few days and accordingly, will only be available in Mumbai by 14-15 October, 2020.”

The channel’s COO Priya Mukherjee, who was summoned on October 10 to be present in the crime branch office for questioning, informed the police that she was in Bengaluru and did not come due to the Covid-19 situation.

“We have recovered a diary from the residence of the arrested accused, Vishal Bhandari. Apart from the three channels — Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema and Republic TV, there are several other names of channels mentioned in it. Bhandari has also mentioned details about households whom he had paid,” added crime branch officer. Bhandari is a former relationship manager of Hansa.

“Police have also found a list of 1,800 households from Bhandari’s residence where barometers were installed. This is confidential data and should not be leaked to other relationship managers,” said Vaze. A crime branch team has left for Rajasthan to nab the wanted accused.

“We have sought the details of bank accounts of Republic TV, and details of one of the bank accounts have come. We have also asked for bank details of all suspicious channels,” said the officer.

Later in the evening, Republic Media Network (RMN) issued a statement pertaining to the questioning of Khanchandani by the Mumbai Police. The statement said that the police were trying to know the source from which it got the Hansa report, which Khanchandani did not disclose. RMN has reiterated that it will not disclose their source and will protect their democratic right as journalists.