Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani arrested in Mumbai in TRP scam case

Mumbai: The Mumbai police arrested the CEO of Republic TV, Vikas Khanchandani in connection with the TRP (television rating points) manipulation case. He is the 13th person to be arrested in connection with this case. Earlier this week, the ARG Outlier Media Private Limited, the company which owns the Republic Media Network sought protection for the group and its employees in the Supreme Court. However, the court rejected their plea.

Justice DY Chandrachud has told the group who has accused the Maharashtra Police of "hounding" the media house, Republic TV, its Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and the other employees that, "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."

Ghanashyam Singh, the Head of Distribution, Republic TV was named in the 1,400-page charge sheet. CEO Khanchandani's role was identified during the interrogation of Singh.

The TRP scam case came into light when an official of Hansa Research, Nitin Deokar filed a case with the Mumbai Police alleging that television rating points (TRP) were being manipulated. After a thorough investigation on the issue, the Mumbai Police said that Republic TV, which has the highest ratings, was manipulating their ratings. This was done by bribing the households where monitorings machines were placed just to get higher advertising rates. The household were paid Rs 400 to 500 per month to keep certain channels throughout the month.

However, the Republic TV has said that the alleged accusations are false. They called these accusations a matter of vendetta by the Mumbai Police. The clash between the television channel and Mumbai Police started during the investigation of Sushant Singh Rajput's death case.

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