Published 15:20 IST, November 6th 2020
Hansa seeks TRP case probe transfer to CBI; Writ petition to Bombay High Court here
In its petition, the Hansa Research Group Private Limited has urged the Bombay High Court to transfer the TRP case probe to CBI or another state agency.
Hansa Research Group Private Limited, the research service provider on whose complaint an FIR was registered in the alleged TRP case against Republic TV, has moved the Bombay High Court accusing the officers of Mumbai Police Crime Branch of pressurising its employees to "disown" a report, which was used by the Republic TV to declare that it was not among the channels named in the matter.
'Employees were pressured to make false statement'
In the 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.
In its petition, Hansa Research Group has said that encounter cop Sachin Vaze was threatening Hansa members to implicate Republic TV, adding details of how its members had to go undergo illegal detention of not categorically identifying report shown on Republic TV as a fake one. The Hansa Group has also alleged that the Promoter-director of the companies was threatened with arrest on October 26.
Hansa has urged the court to transfer the probe to CBI or another state agency, accusing the Crime Branch of being “biased”. The Hansa Group has also approached the Home Secretary, DGP, JCP and others in the Maharashtra Government to stop the harassment of its personnel, the petition states. The Hansa Group accusing Mumbai Police of bias and prejudice has stated that they seek to restrain Sachin Vaze from resorting to illegal methods in treating the petitioner - i.e The Hansa Group. It seeks that the court ensures the cops follow due procedure.
"All the harassment that has been caused to the petitioners by Sachin Vaze is only with the view to extract a statement albeit false, from them that the above said Hansa Report shown on Republic TV is not that of petitioners but a fake one. Whereas it is a fact that petitioners have repeatedly explained to Sachin Vaze and his team that it is not clear to them what this purported Hansa Report claimed by Republic TV in its telecast is, as till date Republic TV has neither sought any permission from the petitioner for using something they are calling as 'Hansa Report' in its telecast nor have they shared what the said document is," the petition says. However, in an earlier court hearing on the same, the veracity of the Hansa report was established.
Fake TRP Case against Republic falls apart
Earlier, with Hansa Vision putting out a statement with the full facts and audit report, the lies of Param Bir Singh and the Mumbai Police were exposed. The Hansa Vision statement said, “Hansa Vision, emphatically rejects the allegation of any illegal transaction between Republic TV and itself. On the specific request of Hansa Vision, its statutory Auditor Guru & Ram LLP has certified the accounts and certified the normal routine business transactions entered by Hansa Vision & ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd and that that there are no other transactions with them. It was further clarified by them that Hansa Vision has not been a recipient of any money from Republic TV.
Updated 16:17 IST, November 6th 2020