The Bombay High Court on Saturday issued notices to Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and other police officers in a plea filed by Hansa Research Group requesting that a probe in the Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation case be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and M.S. Karnik was hearing a plea filed by the group that alleges harassment by police officers Sachin Vaze, investigating officer Prashant Sandbhor and others in the Crime Branch.
Senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan, representing the group, said that police officers were calling employees of Hansa every day to the Crime Branch office and forcing them to give statements that could implicate Republic TV. He said if any documents were required, the officers could issue summons for the same.
Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, representing Mr. Singh, said, the petitioners were playing “hide and seek” and that the accusations and allegations made by Mr. Vaidyanathan were not fair.
To which the court said, “The petitioners should not be called unnecessarily and they can be called in by the Crime Branch for two hours on two days of the week.”
Mr. Kamat accepted the same and the matter will now be heard on November 25.
On October 8, Mr. Singh said a TRP racket had been busted by the Crime Branch. The scam involved Republic TV, Box Cinema and Fakt Marathi. He had said, “In the preliminary enquiry, one person was arrested and he has revealed that he had been working for a company called Hansa Research Group Private Limited.”
The accused had said the company had misused confidential data that had been entrusted to them. The action was undertaken for wrongful gains of various TV channels which resulted in loss to various advertisers and their agencies, he stated.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/fake-trp-high-court-seeks-maharashtra-govts-reply-over-charges-against-cops/article33047828.ece
