Republic
TV
CEO
Vikas
Khanchandani
has
been
arrested
on
Sunday
(December
13)
by
the
Mumbai
Crime
Branch
in
the
TRP
manipulation
scam.
Khanchandani
is
the
13th
person
to
be
arrested
in
the
case
so
far.
The
arrest
was
confirmed
by
a
senior
Mumbai
police
official,
who
said
that
Khanchandani
was
arrested
early
in
the
morning
on
Sunday
from
his
residence.
His
involvement
in
the
case
came
to
light
during
the
interrogation
of
Republic
TV’s
distribution
head
Ghanshyam
Singh,
who
was
arrested
and
chargesheeted
earlier
by
the
police.
An
investigating
officer
said,
“We
have
direct
evidence
against
Khanchandani
and
have
also
found
his
link
with
earlier
arrested
accused
Ghanshyam
Singh.”
Khanchandani
will
be
produced
in
the
court
today
and
he
has
already
been
questioned
twice
by
the
investigators.
The
crime
branch’s
probe
has
revealed
that
some
cable
operators
had
used
dual
LCN
(Landing
Channel
Number)
technology,
whereby
Republic’s
two
news
channels
would
show
up
in
the
kids
and
news
channel
genres
respectively.
Khanchandani
was
a
part
of
an
internal
WhatsApp
group
where
discussions
about
this
practice
would
take
place.
For
the
unversed,
the
crime
branch
is
investigating
the
role
of
Republic
TV,
Fakt
Marathi,
Box
Cinema,
News
Nation,
Mahamovies
and
Wow
music
channels
in
the
TRP
manipulation
case,
in
which
the
viewership
figures
were
being
inflated
by
the
aforementioned
channels.
For
the
unversed,
the
corrupt
practice
came
to
light
in
October,
after
an
official
lodged
a
complaint
with
the
police,
and
the
following
month,
the
Mumbai
Police
Crime
Branch
filed
a
1,400-page
charge
sheet
in
the
alleged
fake
Television
Rating
Points
(TRP)
case.
They
named
six
channels,
including
Republic
Media
Network
and
News
Nation
for
allegedly
paying
money
to
boost
TRPs
for
about
two
years.