The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) on Monday directed a DCP of Mumbai Police's crime branch to appear before it on December 16 after a complaint was filed claiming "illegal and indiscriminate" arrest of Republic Media Network's CEO Vikas Khanchandani. Khanchandani was arrested on Sunday by the city police in connection with the alleged TRP (Television Rating Points) scam and was sent to police custody till December 15.
A complaint was filed before the MSHRC by one Aditya Mishra on Sunday claiming the city police was falsely targeting employees of Republic TV with a vendetta. Mishra had earlier also filed a complaint before the commission raising concerns over the "ill-treatment" being allegedly meted by the police to Ghanshyam Singh, Vice President of Republic TV, when he was in custody.
"Vikas Khanchandani had already cooperated with the police in its investigation in the case. Even Ghanshyam Singh had appeared before the police on several occasions for recording his statement before his arrest," the complaint said. It added that the city police were arresting employees of Republic TV without any proper evidence and was violating their human rights by not treating them with dignity.
On Monday, the MSHRC took note of the complaint and issued summons to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Detection, Crime Branch, and directed him to appear before it on December 16. In a related development, the police told a sessions court here that it would not arrest Republic TV's CFO S Sundaram till Tuesday when his pre-arrest bail plea would be heard by the court.
Both Sundaram and Khanchandani had last week filed applications for pre-arrest bail in the sessions court. Sundaram's advocate Niranjan Mundargi on Monday expressed apprehension that pending the hearing of the plea, the police might arrest Sundaram too.
The court then sought to know from the police what was the urgency to arrest Khanchandani when his plea was pending. Special public prosecutor Shishir Hirey assured the court that the police will not arrest Sundaram till Tuesday.
Khanchandani was arrested from his residence here by the police's Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) on Sunday morning. The police began a probe into the alleged scam after ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Agency about rigging of TRP by some channels.
TRP, measured by recording viewership data at sample households, is crucial for attracting advertisers. The BARC engaged Hansa to install and maintain barometers which record TV viewership data at sample households.
It was alleged that some of these families were being bribed to tune into certain channels to ramp up their TRP. In a charge sheet filed recently, the police alleged that an official of Hansa paid money to sample households to tune into Box Cinema, Fakt Marathi, Maha Movie and Republic TV.
The Republic TV has denied any wrongdoing. The police have arrested a total of 13 persons in the case so far.
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