Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani, arrested in an alleged television rating point (TRP) scam, has been granted bail by the Esplanade Court in Mumbai. Khanchandani, who was arrested on Sunday, was in police custody till 15 December. Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh revealed about the scam two months ago. Apart from the Republic TV, two Marathi channels were also charged.
A total of 13 have been arrested so far including Vikas Khanchandani in the TRP fraud. This development comes a day after an Additional Sessions Judge, DE Kothalikar expressed disappointment on the manner in which Mumbai Police chose to arrest Khanchandani a day before his plea for anticipatory bail was scheduled for hearing.
Investigators had said that Khanchandani was part of an internal WhatsApp group in which LCN (logical channel number) was discussed. The crime branch had mentioned in the chargesheet presented in the court that the channel executives, along with cable operators and multi-system operators (multi-system operators), ran Republic TV on dual logical channel numbers (LCNs) or two frequencies, which is a violation of the guidelines of Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI).