Republic TV cannot play a victim, said the Mumbai Police in its affidavit filed before the Bombay HC recently in response to the reply filed by the channel seeking to quash all criminal proceedings against it and its employees in the alleged TRP scam.
The city police claimed that the channel not being named in the FIR cannot seek quashing of the proceedings.
The affidavit filed before a bench led by Justice Sambhaji Shinde, stated that since Republic isn't an accused in the trial court, it cannot seek to either quash or to transfer the probe in the scam to the CBI.
"Only individuals and the office bearers of the Republic TV have been named as suspects in light of the preliminary investigation. Merely naming such persons as suspects does not in any manner interfere with any right of such persons, much less a fundamental right. Such action cannot be the basis for quashing an entire investigation/ chargesheet/ supplementary charge-sheet,” the affidavit stated.
The city police, accordingly, submitted that only those, who are arraigned as accused in the case can seek such reliefs and not a third party like the channel.
The affidavit further states that since Republic TV isn't an accused before the trial court, it cannot place any material on record against the probe, especially when such material isn't part of the Court's record. It further stated that the channel is trying to obfuscate the probe in the matter by tagging other criminal proceedings against the channel and some of its employees.
Notably, the channel and its editor Arnab Goswami have alleged that the state has purposely targeted them and the FIRs in the present case and other cases is nothing but political vendetta.
The matter is likely to be heard in next month.