On Thursday, the republic Tv’s petition of conducting a CBI inquiry was rejected by the supreme court. They said that the channel should appeal to the Bombay High court just like any other common man would.
Republic TV had filed an affidavit in the supreme court with regards to the fake TRP allegations. It was included that the Mumbai police had opposed the petition and heavy penalty was imposed on the channel personnel.
Photo credits- The Hindu
In the court hearing, Republic Tv was opposed stating that Article 19(1)(a) cannot be invoked to obstruct and disturb the investigation of the authorities.
The supreme court stated that since the petition is already in the High court, accepting it would prove that they have no faith in the High court’s judgement.
They have pulled out the affidavit from the supreme court. The Mumbai police also accused the channel of attempting to intervene in the investigation.
They also said, ‘Arnab Goswami holds programmes where cases are debated, witnesses are brought and intimidated. Such media trials are against the fair and free probe.’ The police have also summoned many other channels for interrogation.
The FIR submitted by the police cannot decide the validity of the allegations. They also blamed Republic Tv for trying to twist the TRP scam case into a media debacle.
The police explained for the sake of the freedom of expression, one cannot be exempted from an investigation. While the other accused channels have been cooperative in the interrogation, Republic Tv has been creating obstacles.
They concluded the instance saying that the fake TRP case is still in the early stage and cannot be transferred to the CBI.
S Sundaram, Republic Tv’s CFO was summoned for the interrogation while the owners of other accused channels namely Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema, were arrested.
Photo credits- punekar news
The entire scam was exposed when BARC filed the complaint through Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd. The plea was filed in the supreme court by the owner of Republic media network, Arg Outlier Media Private Limited.
