Republic
TV
CEO
Vikas
Khanchandani
has
been
granted
bail
by
the
Chief
Metropolitan
Magistrate
at
Esplanade
in
Mumbai
on
Wednesday.
Vikas,
who
was
arrested
on
Sunday
(December
13)
in
the
TRP
(Television
Rating
Points)
manipulation
case,
received
bail
on
a
cash
surety
of
Rs
50,000.
Khanchandani
was
arrested
from
his
residence
by
the
police's
Crime
Intelligence
Unit
(CIU)
in
the
alleged
TRP
(Television
Rating
Points)
rigging
scam.
For
the
unversed,
the
corrupt
practise
came
to
light
in
October,
after
a
complaint
was
lodged
by
the
Broadcast
Audience
Research
Council
(BARC)
through
Hansa
Research
Agency
with
the
police.
The
Crime
Branch
officials
have
filed
a
1,400-page
chargesheet
and
have
so
far
arrested
13
people
in
connection
with
the
case.
Besides
Republic
Media
Network,
the
officials
are
also
investigating
Fakt
Marathi,
Box
Cinema,
News
Nation,
Mahamovies
and
Wow
music
channels
for
allegedly
inflating
their
viewership
figures.
The
probe
so
far
has
revealed
that
some
sample
households
were
paid
to
tune
into
certain
channels
to
ramp
up
their
TRP.
Khanchandani
was
found
to
be
a
part
of
an
internal
WhatsApp
group
where
discussions
about
this
practice
would
take
place.