Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani arrested by Mumbai police
Mumbai Police on Sunday arrested Vikas Khanchandani, CEO of Republic TV, in a corruption case involving television ratings. The fake TRP scam surfaced in October when rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council sued Hansa Research Group. It was alleged that some television channels were tampering with TRP numbers.
Hansa Works is one of the companies included in the panel which deals with homes or people meters. TRP measures records and audience data at home, which is important to attract advertisers. According to police, some households were bribed to watch Republic TV and some other channels. Republic TV denied the allegations. Ghanshyam Singh, another channel employee, was arrested in a TRP corruption case last month।
Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami appeared in the Mumbai High Court last week. He appealed to the Mumbai Police to stop the TRP manipulation scam. The lawsuit was probably funded by Republican TV and ARG outlet media, and one of the company’s employees was tortured in police custody।