The Bombay High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after ARG Outlier Media Limited Group that owns Republic TV sought a stay on the investigation in the alleged Television Ratings Points (TRP) manipulation scam.
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and M.S. Karnik was hearing a plea filed by the group that also owns Hindi news channel, Republic Bharat, and the owner of the group and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. The plea sought the probe to be transferred to the CBI and to quash the FIR filed against them by the Kandivali police on October 6.
The charges have been made under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Bench directed the Mumbai Police to submit details of their probe in a sealed cover on November 25 when it will hear the matter.
Senior advocate Milind Sathe, representing the petitioners, said the fresh application had been filed by amending the main petition to seek a stay to the ongoing probe and make the CBI a party.
The application also alleged that the police had been investigating several people, like the company’s chartered accountants and auditors, who had nothing to do with the case. The application also questioned the hurried decision by the Maharashtra government to withdraw its general consent to the CBI to probe cases in the State.
