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Tag: Republic TV

  • TRP row: SC rejects Arnab Goswami’s plea for CBI probe

    TRP row: SC rejects Arnab Goswami’s plea for CBI probe

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a petition filed by Republic TV and its editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami seeking protection for all the employees of the news channel from coercive action by Maharashtra police.

    The channel had filed a plea in the ongoing TRP scam investigation that was unearthed by Mumbai police on 8 October.

    The plea alleging continuous hounding of Republic TV employees by the Maharashtra police and seeking a probe by central bureau of investigation (CBI) was withdrawn after a bench headed by justice DY Chandrachud remarked that it was "ambitious in nature.”

    Chandrachud said, "This petition is ambitious in nature. You want Maharashtra police not to arrest any employee and transfer to CBI. You better withdraw this."

    Goswami's counsel, senior advocate Milind Sathe, then chose to rescind the plea after the court granted liberty to Goswami and Republic TV to move appropriate forum for relief.

    The fake TRP scam came to light in October when rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers. Hansa had been tasked with installing barometers, which record viewership data at sample households. 

    Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh then claimed that Republic TV and two Marathi channels – Box Cinema and Fakt Marathi – were involved in manipulating ratings. 

    Since then several arrests have been made in the case and there has been a lot of developments both within and outside of the courtroom.  

  • Arnab Goswami seeks quashing of FIR against him in abetment case

    Arnab Goswami seeks quashing of FIR against him in abetment case

    NEW DELHI: Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami’s legal nightmares show no signs of abating. He has been at loggerheads with police officials and the government of Maharashtra for a while now. Currently, Goswami is embroiled in two different cases — the TRP manipulation scam, and abetment to suicide case of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik. The industry has witnessed high voltage drama for the last two months with a litany of FIRs, arrests, lawsuits, hearings, and mud-slinging.

    In the latest development, Goswami has filed an interim application before Bombay high court (HC), seeking directions to be issued to the chief judicial magistrate at Alibaug to not take cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the Raigad police in the abetment case. He has petitioned for a stay on all further proceedings, including the investigation in relation to the chargesheet filed.

    For the record, last week, on 5 December, Raigad police filed a 1,916-page-long chargesheet before the Alibaug court implicating Goswami and two other accused in the same case. The chargesheet includes evidence from 65 witnesses. Media reports said that police has also submitted the forensic reports that have matched the handwriting in the suicide note, claiming it was not written under any pressure.

    Goswami’s application seeks quashing of the FIR against him in the case and he has moved the court for an early listing of the plea and the interim applications filed in it.

    It must be noted that he has also filed an application — a day before the filing of the chargesheet — with the Bombay HC seeking a stay on the filing of the chargesheet, and on any further probe into the abetment of the suicide case. In his plea, Goswami has also sought the transfer of the case to the central bureau of investigation (CBI) or any other independent investigating agency outside the purview of Maharashtra government.

    In the latest application, he has claimed that despite a pending application by him, the Raigad police went ahead and filed a chargesheet without giving any notice to him or giving him a copy of the same.

    Goswami’s lawyers argued that the filing of the chargesheet is a “complete subversion of due process given that it comes within hours of a political instruction being declared publicly by the home minister of Maharashtra, Anil Deshmukh.”

    They further pointed that the Raigad police acted out of pure malice and malafide intent by filing the chargesheet against him so as to render his earlier application moot.

    Goswami has submitted that the observations made by the Supreme Court in the judgment of 27 November “upholding due process and personal liberty, fell on deaf ears of the machinery in state of Maharashtra and it is proof of the desperate predetermined conspiracy in operation against him.”

    He concluded his plea by submitting that “the filing of a malicious chargesheet in the present matter pending the hearing of his plea is aiding the instrumentality of the state which is being weaponised for using the force of criminal law against him.”

    For the record, Goswami and the other accused were arrested by the Raigad police earlier in November and were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. After the Bombay HC refused bail, the supreme court granted him interim release pending the disposal of the proceedings before the high court and for a period of four weeks from the date of the judgment of the HC.

  • NBF hails Supreme Court of India upholding human liberty

    NBF hails Supreme Court of India upholding human liberty

    New Delhi: The News Broadcasters Federation hails supreme court of India, upholding sacrosanct principle of human liberty in its judgement providing interim relief to Arnab Goswami, MD and editor in chief of Republic Media Network.

    The apex court in its judgement explained that the writ of liberty runs through the fabrics of constitution of India, while highlighting the role and constitutional duty of high court and sub-ordinate courts to protect the citizens from the misuse of criminal law and authority. “Deprivation of liberty even for a single day is one day too many” the court had observed.

    NBF herein reiterates and urges the government of India to immediately setup and independent neutral national agency to investigate into any allegations of professional misconduct by the journalists, executives and owners of the media company, in order to prevent selective harassment by the state authority and ensure freedom of press.

    NBF is the most democratic and largest congregation of news broadcasters across the country, striving for the best interest – editorial and business – of news TV channels.

    NBF counts Dighvijay, DY365 News, First India Rajasthan, Gulistan News, IBC24, India News, JK 24*7, Living India News, News Live, News Nation, NewsX, North East Live, Odisha TV, Prag News, MH One News, PuthiyaThalaimurai TV, Republic TV, Republic Bharat, Newsfirst Kannada, S Newz, TV5, and Twenty Four News among its members. 

  • No prima facie evidence against Arnab Goswami in abetment to suicide case: SC

    No prima facie evidence against Arnab Goswami in abetment to suicide case: SC

    NEW DELHI: Detailing the reasons for granting interim bail to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in its 11 November judgement, the Supreme Court highlighted that the bail will remain in force for four weeks, even after the Bombay high court decides on the journalist-cum-businessman’s plea to quash the FIR against him. The judgment was delivered by a bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee. 

    Justice Chandrachud said that prima facie, it could not be held that Goswami had abetted the suicide of Anvay Naik. 

    The apex court also lamented the Bombay high court’s order in the matter. “The striking aspect of the impugned judgment of the high court spanning over fifty-six pages is the absence of any evaluation even prima facie of the most basic issue. The high court, in other words, failed to apply its mind to a fundamental issue which needed to be considered while dealing with a petition for quashing under Article 226 of the Constitution or section 482 of the CrPC.”

    The bench upheld that the judiciary should stand as a bulwark against weaponizing criminal law for selective harassment. “Courts must be alive to the need to safeguard the public interest in ensuring that the due enforcement of criminal law is not obstructed. The fair investigation of crime is an aid to it. Equally, it is the duty of courts across the spectrum – the district judiciary, the high courts and the Supreme Court – to ensure that the criminal law does not become a weapon for the selective harassment of citizens."

    Read our coverage in the suicide abetment case

    Goswami had approached the SC after the Bombay high court refused to grant him bail. The top court gave a prima facie view that the preliminary evaluation of FIR did not establish any abetment to suicide charge and granted interim bail to Goswami, saying it will be a "travesty of justice" if personal liberty is curtailed.

    The bench had also ordered the release of two others in the case — Neetish Sarda and Feroz Mohammad Shaikh — on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each and directed that they shall not tamper with evidence and cooperate in the probe.

    The accused were arrested by Alibaug police in Maharashtra’s Raigad district on 4 November in connection with the suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018 over alleged non-payment of dues by companies of the accused.

  • TRP scam: Mumbai Police files charge sheet

    TRP scam: Mumbai Police files charge sheet

    NEW DELHI: After a rigmarole of over one month, Mumbai Police has filed a charge sheet in the court, in the fake TRP scam, which was busted by the city police following a complaint by Hansa Research Group, a part of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC). 

    So far, 12 arrests have been made by the crime brand in the case, including owners of Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema, and distribution head of Republic TV. 

    The fake TRP scam came to light last month when rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers. Hansa had been tasked with installing barometers, which record viewership data at sample households.

    Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh last month claimed that Republic TV and two Marathi channels Box Cinema and Fakt Marathi- were involved in manipulating TRPs.

    The Maharashtra government last month withdrew its "general consent" given to the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe cases in the state, in the wake of the CBI taking over a case registered by Uttar Pradesh Police against "unknown" channels and persons over alleged fudging of TRP.

    The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently filed a money laundering complaint in the alleged TRP rigging scam being investigated by the Mumbai Police.

  • Republic TV distribution head arrested in TRP scam case

    Republic TV distribution head arrested in TRP scam case

    NEW DELHI: In yet another turn of events in the TRP scam case, Republic TV distribution head Ghanshyam Singh was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning. He had earlier been questioned by the crime branch in connection with the case.

    Singh, who is also assistant VP of the Arnab Goswami-run channel,  is the 12th accused to have been taken into police custody in the TRP rigging scandal that came to light last month, when ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers.

    The police probe had revealed that certain households were paid to keep several channels, including Republic TV, running even when they were not watching. 

    Republic TV has denied any such allegations and accused Mumbai police of acting in the spirit of vendetta for the network’s critical reporting of the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case. 

    Read our coverage of the TRP scam case

    Following this latest development, the channel issued a statement claiming Singh was booked under "frivolous sections in a fake TRP manipulation case" and termed his arrest “illegal.”

    Singh’s arrest comes close on the heels of Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami was arrested and remanded in 14-day judicial custody in a 2018 case of abetment to suicide. 

  • Delhi HC seeks responses from Republic TV, Times Now in Bollywood producers’ lawsuit

    Delhi HC seeks responses from Republic TV, Times Now in Bollywood producers’ lawsuit

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has sought responses from Republic TV and Times Now to a plea filed by major Bollywood production houses against the massive “smear campaign against the industry” run by the news organisations while covering the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. The court has also asked the media outlets to not run any defamatory content on their channels or social media handles. 

    The court was hearing the lawsuit filed by four Bollywood industry associations and 34 leading producers, which also sought to restrain the two outlets from interfering with the right to privacy of people working in the Bollywood industry. 

    The suit also sought orders against unnamed defendants and social media platforms to refrain from making or publishing allegedly irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks against Bollywood.

    Senior advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing on behalf of the plaintiffs, submitted that a certain section of the news media seems to have abandoned journalistic principles. He asserted that yellow journalism is on the rise and judicial intervention is required in the matter.

    "…the idea is not to attack the Fourth Estate. What we called yellow journalism – that fringe has become mainstream. So a signal has to come from the court," Bar and Bench quoted him as saying.

    To this, justice Rajiv Shakdher responded: "Courts hesitate (in restraining media reports) because it is a constitutional right. But you are right, we expect fair reportage…"

    With reference to the orders passed by the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) warning against media trials, the court went on to ask: "What is that should be put in place to change the way the reporting is carried out?…There needs to be some toning down. There are orders of NBSA. But it seems that news channels are not following that. As an officer of the court, what is the next step here if you do not follow self-regulation?"

    The case has further been adjourned to 14 December for hearing. 

  • Abetment case: Arnab Goswami alleges mistreatment by Mumbai police

    Abetment case: Arnab Goswami alleges mistreatment by Mumbai police

    NEW DELHI: Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami is a man caught in the eye of a storm. Weeks after finding himself in the midst of a TRP manipulation racket, the journalist was arrested in connection to a 2018 abetment to suicide case. In the last few days, the visuals of Goswami being dragged and shoved ignominiously while being taken into police custody have been shared widely on social media and the TV news circuit. Now, he has levelled the charge of mistreatment against the Mumbai police in his bail plea before the Bombay high court.

    Goswami has claimed that not only did he sustain injuries as a result of police action during his arrest, he was denied drinking water and made to ingest a “certain liquid” while he was in police custody.

    "During the course of his arrest and while being transferred to Alibaug in a police van and in the custody of the police, the petitioner suffered a 6-inch-deep gash on his left hand, a serious injury to his spinal cord, was hit by a heavy uniform police officer’s boot, was not allowed to wear shoes throughout, suffered vein injuries and was not even given access to drinking water. Additionally, the Petitioner was also forced to consume certain liquid by the police officers guarding him and choked as a result thereof," the petition reads, as reported by Bar and Bench.

    He has also accused the police of deliberately delaying in filing a reply to the court's notice on his bail plea, in order to ensure that he "remains illegally detained." Yesterday, senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Goswami, had asserted that the Maharashtra government was acting in malice against his client.

    In a special hearing today, the bench of justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik has taken up Goswami's habeas corpus petition challenging his arrest and detention. Submissions are currently underway from senior advocate Amit Desai, appearing for the state. Earlier in the day, the court heard submissions from counsels for the two other accused in the case and advocate Subodh Desai, representing the complainant Adnya Naik, the deceased’s daughter.

    The bench told the lawyers that they need to wrap up arguments on the matter of interim relief today itself, otherwise the case would be next posted for hearing on November 23, after vacations.

    After being closed in 2019, the abetment case was reopened in October this year. It pertains to the suicide of Mumbai-based interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother. Naik alleged in his suicide note that Goswami and two others had not paid dues owed to his firm, which is why he decided to end his life. Goswami was arrested by Alibaug police and was remanded to judicial custody till 18 November by a magistrate’s court.

  • TRP Scam: Hansa Research moves Bombay High Court, claims harassment from Mumbai crime branch officials

    TRP Scam: Hansa Research moves Bombay High Court, claims harassment from Mumbai crime branch officials

    New Delhi: Hansa Research Group has moved the Bombay HC, alleging that Mumbai Police’s crime branch officers probing the case are pressuring its employees to “retract” a report, based on which Republic TV had claimed it was not among channels named in the TRP Scam case. It has urged the court to transfer the probe to CBI or another state agency, accusing the Crime Branch of being “biased”.

    The media report said that the group has filed a petition and the four petitioners – Hansa Research, its director Narsimhan K Swamy, CEO Praveen Nijhara and deputy GM Nitin Deokar – contended that since October 12, several employees of the company have been repeatedly called to the crime branch office and were pressured to make a “false statement” disowning the report telecast on Republic TV on October 10 – referred to as the “Hansa report”.

    They mention that they are caught in the crossfire in a “battle-like situation between Mumbai Police and certain sections from media for the last few months…. It is evident that the petitioners are being used by police and certain section from media as means to attack each other and petitioners are suffering from collateral damage in this.”

    The petition further stated: “Harassment caused to the petitioners by respondent no. 1 (Assistant Inspector Sachin Vaze) is only with a view to extract a statement, albeit false, from them that the…purported Hansa report shown on Republic TV since October 10 is not that of the petitioner no. 1 but a fake one.”

    Read more news on Hansa Research

    The petitioners stated that they told crime branch officers repeatedly that they could not confirm or deny the report since they were not aware what the ‘Hansa Report’ cited by Republic TV was, as the channel had not sought their permission or informed them about using the report, and only parts of the report were telecast. They said that they will have to see the entire document to ascertain its veracity.

    The petition names assistant police inspector (Crime Branch) Sachin Vaze, Mumbai Police commissioner Parambir Singh, assistant CP and chief investigating officer Shashank Sandbhor, Maharashtra government and the CBI as respondents.

    The petition stated that on October 26, four directors of the company and one vice-president (finance) were present at the crime branch office. The petitioners claimed that while the crime branch officers again told the petitioners to deny ‘Hansa report’ as fake, they also disallowed their lawyer to enter the premises. They were then informed that they were being arrested and their phones were seized, the petition further stated.

    The petitioners alleged that since October 12, when Nijhara and Deokar first went to the crime branch office, their employees have been “kept detained there for over 200 man hours for no justifiable reason”. The only objective of the crime branch, the petition alleged, is to “keep them detained and pressurise and frustrate them so that they make a false statement according to the desire of respondent no 1 (Vaze) for reasons best known to him.”

    The petition is likely to be heard by the court later this week.

    Earlier, the group moved the city civil court seeking an order restraining Republic TV from citing the report as ‘Hansa Report’ since they were not informed by the channel. The city civil court, however, refused to grant the injunction.

    On 6 October, Hansa Research Group lodged an FIR against its employee Vishal Bhandari after he was found allegedly accepting payments illegally to make certain households watch specific TV channels, allegedly to fudge TV TRP ratings. Several arrests have been made in the case. 

  • Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami sent to judicial custody for 14 days till Nov 18

    Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami sent to judicial custody for 14 days till Nov 18

    New Delhi: Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami’s problems does not seem to be coming to an end. Yesterday, in a big spectacle, Mumbai Police arrested him in abetment to suicide case. Soon after his arrest, there were reactions from different stakeholders of the industry and bureaucrats and many of them condemned the manner in which Mumbai Police had acted. Ministers, celebrities, lawyers, and broadcaster associations called upon the Maharashtra government to ensure a fair investigation in the matter without exercising powers of the government on media.

    In the latest development, Arnab Goswami has been sent to a 14 day judicial custody until 18 November. Media reports say that Goswami was presented before a magistrate in the evening and a court in Alibaug passed the order. However, the court turned down the plea for police custody.

    Reports also mention that Mumbai Police has registered FIR against Goswami, his wife, son and two others for allegedly assaulting police official. It will also start an enquiry against the officer who had earlier investigated abetment to suicide case in which Goswami was arrested today. The investigating officer had filed closure report, saying there was no evidence.

    Read more news on Arnab Goswami

    According to the reports, the case goes back to 2018 when the architect Avnay Naik, and his mother committed suicide in 2018 over alleged non-payment of dues by Republic TV. In 2018, the Alibaug police had filed a case of abetment to suicide but in 2019 the case was closed by Raigad Police. In May 2020, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh announced a fresh CID investigation into the case after Adnya Naik, daughter of Avnay Naik, approached him.

    However, ARG Outlier Media has completely trashed the case finds it shocking that a case that was decisively closed has been reopened with the sole purpose of misusing power, concocting facts and forcefully arresting Arnab Goswami in a prima facie act of revenge and vengeance for his news coverage which questioned those in power in the state of Maharashtra. It further mentioned that the ARG Outlier Media had paid 90 per cent of its dues to the company of the deceased as per the terms of agreement. The remaining sum was to be paid on completion of the pending work, which has since not been undertaken. Repeated attempts were made by ARG Outlier Media to make the balance payment to CDPL, for full and final settlement of all claims.

    It must be noted that these developments are taking place amid the investigations of the ongoing TRP scam that saw Mumbai Police – Maharashtra government at loggerheads with Goswami on multiple occasions. The two sides have been repeatedly attacking each other.