Former CEO of TV9 V. Ravi Prakash refused to appear before the police for questioning in connection with the forgery case registered against him, Cyberabad police said.
However, former Chief Financial Officer of the channel MKVN Murthy appeared before the investigators, who grilled him for more than five hours. Both, Ravi Prakash and Murthy were sacked from the board of directors of the entity running the channel on Friday.
“We questioned him about the forgery of the signature of Associated Broadcasting Company Private Limited (ABCPL) company secretary Devender Agarwal,” investigators said.
Ravi Prakash and Mr. Murthy forged the signatures of Agarwal and sent his resignation to Registrar of Companies, P Kaushik Rao, director of Alanda Media and Entertainments Private Limited which has high stakes in ABCPL told the police, following which cases were registered against them.
“We issued summon notices to Mr. Ravi Prakash to appear before us, but he has not turned up today. A fresh notice will be issued again and further action will be taken based on his response,” investigators said.
The officer said that apart from affixing the summon notice under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), they have also handed over the notice to Ravi Prakash’s family members and the same was sent to him on WhatsApp.
Highly placed sources in the police said that they are likely to ‘pick-up’ Ravi Prakash on Saturday, as the criminal charges against him are non-bailable.
Ravi Prakash holds a stake of 8.5 % in ABCPL, while Alanda Media has 90 % equity and Mr. Murthy reportedly had a 1.5 % share in the company.
On Thursday, Cyberabad police conducted searches at the office and residences of Ravi Prakash, Tollywood actor Shivaji and Murthy, in Banjara Hills, Himayatnagar and Khairatabad respectively.