As Hansa details witch-hunt against Republic in HC; BJP's Bhatia slams MVA on power misuse

Criticism for the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi and Mumbai police, and support for Republic Media Network Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami has been mounting since his illegal arrest on Wednesday. As Arnab Goswami spent a third night in judicial custody, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson and senior SC advocate Gaurav Bhatia expressed his displeasure with a strong message to ‘Sonia Sena.’ He hit out at the Maharashtra government for their ‘blatant abuse of power’ for falsely implicating Republic in the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam.    

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BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia fires stong message to Maharashtra govt on Arnab case

BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia was responding to a news portal’s post about the statements of Hansa Research, the BARC-affiliate company that measures TRPs of channels on whose complaint the TRP scam had been unearthed, in the Bombay High Court. Senior Advocate Vaidyanathan argued before the court that Hansa Research employees were forced to appear and give statements against Republic TV in the scam. Reacting to the vindication for Republic Media Network, Bhatia asked if the Maharashtra government & ‘Sonia Sena’ had the courage to come out and shed light on this ‘blatant abuse of power.’ 

He stated that statement from Hansa clearly showed that  Arnab Goswami and Republic Media Network were being targeted. Calling the witch-hunt against the network and arrest of Arnab as the 'crushing' of the fourth pillar of democracy, Bhatia pinned his hopes on the High Court to ensure justice for Arnab Goswami.

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Bhatia had previously hit out at the MVA over Arnab Goswami's arrest as well.

Fraud TRP probe 

Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh had held a press conference making false allegations that Republic Media Network was part of manipulating TRPs by making payments to the panel homes. The claims led to huge outcry as Republic was not mentioned even once in the FIR, which had named another channel. OpIndia even exposed that the Mumbai Police had allegedly coerced witnesses in making false statements about receiving payments, in tapes that are now with the CBI after the premier probe agency also registered a FIR in the case. 

As the TRP scam case failed, Mumbai Police tried numerous other attempts to target Republic, filing an FIR against all employees, questioning the top editors & staff for almost 200 hours, seeking details of smallest transactions since inception of the company, editorial access to newsroom software and machinery and more. The latest and the most shocking had been re-opening of a 2018 abetment to suicide case to target Arnab Goswami and his brutal arrest.

Meanwhile, the Bombay HC is set to hear Arnab Goswami’s interim bail on Saturday, after adjourning the hearing on Friday. Clubbed with it is the Hansa research petition against Sachin Vaze, Param Bir Singh, State of Maharashtra and others. The four petitioners – Hansa Research, its director Narsimhan K Swamy, CEO Praveen Nijhara and deputy GM Nitin Deokar – contended that since October 12, several employees of the company have been repeatedly called to the Crime Branch office and were pressured to make a “false statement” disowning the Hansa report telecast on Republic TV on October 10. 

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