Earlier three channels, including Republic TV, was found allegedly involved in the TRP racket.

MUMBAI: The names of two more TV channels have surfaced during the investigation of alleged fake Television Rating Points (TRP) scam, police said on Wednesday.

While one is a news channel, the other one is an entertainment channel, the official said.

“During the investigation, it came to light that these two channels were also involved in fixing the TRP by paying money to households for watching them,” he said.

“While investigating the fake TRP racket, the police have added fresh sections of IPC, including 174, 179, 201, 204,” he said.

According to the official, the police had earlier registered an offence under section 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 120(B), 34 of IPC in the case, he said adding the crime branch submitted the letter to the court about adding new sections.

Earlier three channels, including Republic TV, was found allegedly involved in the TRP racket.

Meanwhile the probe team on Wednesday once again recorded statements of Republic TV CFO S Sundaram and executive editor Niranjan Narayanswami, he said.

The alleged fake TRP scam came to light when ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint with the police through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain channels were rigging TRP numbers to lure advertisers.

It was alleged that some families at whose houses meters for collecting data of viewership were installed were being bribed to tune into a particular channel.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced this on Twitter, hours after the Punjab assembly unanimously passed four bills and adopted a resolution against the Union government laws.

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said his government will bring a bill against the Centre’s farm laws on the lines of Punjab.

The chief minister announced this on Twitter, hours after the Punjab assembly unanimously passed four bills and adopted a resolution against the Union government laws.

“INC under the leadership of Smt #SoniaGandhi ji& #RahulGandhi ji stands absolutely with our annadatas and will continue to oppose the anti-farmer laws passed by NDA Govt. Today Congress Govt in #Punjab has passed Bills against these laws.

Earlier, the Congress leadership had suggested states where the party is in power to pass laws of their own, negating the central legislation.

In the meeting of the state council of ministers held at the chief minister’s residence, the effects of Centre’s three new laws on the farmers were discussed.

The council of ministers decided that a special session of the Legislative Assembly will be convened soon and amendment bills will be brought to preserve the interests of the farmers, an official statement said.

The council also emphasised on the imperative of procurement of crops at minimum support price (MSP).

The council observed that the removal of the maximum limit of stock of various agricultural commodities under normal circumstances under the Essential Commodities Act after the implementation of the new agricultural laws will increase black marketing, unauthorised storage and rise in prices.

It was also discussed in the meeting that the provision of MSP in the Contract Forming Act will be in the interest of the farmers of the state, the statement said.

The meeting also discussed the coronavirus situation in the state government’s efforts to deal with it.

The council decided that the mass movement against COVID-19 in the state should be extended for a month till November 30.

The move comes just ten days after Bano, who was the first Muslim woman to question the constitutionality of the practice of triple talaq in the Supreme Court, joined the BJP.

DEHRADUN: Anti-triple talaq crusader Shayara Bano, who recently joined the BJP, has been given minister of state status by the Uttarakhand government.

The move comes just ten days after Bano, who was the first Muslim woman to question the constitutionality of the practice of triple talaq in the Supreme Court, joined the BJP here in the presence of its Pradesh president Bansidhar Bhagat and a host of other leaders.

Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat’s media coordinator Darshan Singh Rawat said ,Bano is among three women, who were appointed vice presidents of the State Women’s Commission besides being accorded MoS status on Tuesday.

The other two women appointed to the post are Jyoti Shah from Ranikhet in Almora district and Pushpa Paswan from Chamoli district.

The three posts in the commission had long been vacant.

It is the chief minister’s gift to the women of the state during Navratri, he said.

Bano was the first to challenge the constitutionality of the practice of triple talaq in the apex court in 2014, four months after being divorced by her husband through speed post.

She is a resident of Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttarakhand.

Paswan also said his party’s manifesto is based on the vision of ‘Bihar first Bihari first’.

PATNA: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan on Wednesday attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying that if Kumar wins the upcoming election by mistake then the state will be on the verge of getting ruined.

“If the current Chief Minister again wins this election by mistake then our state will lose. Our state will again stand on the verge of getting ruined. I wonder how he promotes casteism. It is not appropriate to imagine the development of Bihar under the leadership of a person who promotes communalism,” Paswan said while launching the party’s manifesto for the Bihar assembly polls.

Paswan said his party’s manifesto is based on the vision of ‘Bihar first Bihari first’.

“Today, with the release of our party’s manifesto for the Bihar Assembly polls, I put forward our vision of ‘Bihar first Bihari first’ which will resolve various problems that the people of Bihar have been facing for long,” he said.

Building a web portal where employers and job seeker can connect, constituting Yuva Commission, separate toilets for women in all the block headquarters, gram panchayat headquarters and markets are among the main poll promises made in the manifesto.

“The posts of all the departments of the government-approved will be filled soon. All the employees working in the state government on the contract will be regularised. To prevent flood and drought, all the rivers of the state will be connected by canals,” the manifesto said.

The party, which was part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar, has decided to field candidates against Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and not against the BJP. Paswan has been slamming Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over some of the promises made by the JD-U.

Elections to the 243-seat Bihar Assembly will be held in three phases — October 28, November 3 and 7 — and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.

Srinagar: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday questioned National Conference President Farooq Abdullah for over six hours in connection with a multi-crore scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, prompting accusations of a “political vendetta” by the newly-formed People’s Alliance comprising several mainstream parties.

The 82-year-old former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister received the ED summons a day after the formation of the People’s Alliance led by him was announced on October 15. He was questioned at the agency’s regional office here in the case connected to the embezzlement of more than Rs 40 crore of JKCA funds during his tenure as president of the association.

The CBI has already filed a chargesheet against him and the ED is probing the money laundering angle in the case.

Emerging from the ED office after the questioning, Abdullah told reporters that courts would decide on the merits of the case. “I am not worried. Why are you worried? The only regret I have is that I could not have my lunch as I had not brought it along.”

The ED, he said, was doing their job and he was doing his.

“Our struggle (for Article 370) will go on whether Farooq Abdullah is alive or Farooq Abdullah is dead. Our resolve has not changed and our resolve will not change even If I were to be hanged,” Abdullah said.

ED officials said Abdullah’s statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Lok Sabha MP and former JKCA president, who was also questioned in the case in Chandigarh in July last year, is understood to have been questioned about his role and decisions taken when the alleged fraud took place in the association.

The questioning took place four days after Jammu and Kashmir’s mainstream political parties, including the NC and the PDP, met at Abdullah’s residence and formed the People’s Alliance for ‘Gupkar Declaration’.

The Declaration resolves to campaign constitutionally for the restoration of Article 370, under which the erstwhile state enjoyed special status. On August 5 last year, the Centre revoked the state’s special status and bifurcated the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The Alliance strongly condemned Abdullah’s questioning and termed it “part of the vindictive politics practised by the central government to kill dissent and disagreement across the country and in present case to silence the genuine demand of reversal of unilateral and unconstitutional” abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A.

The ED case is based on an FIR filed by the CBI, which booked former JKCA office-bearers, including general secretary Mohammed Saleem Khan and former treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza.

The CBI later filed a chargesheet in 2018 against Abdullah, Khan, Mirza as well as Mir Manzoor Gazanffer Ali (former JKCA treasurer) and former accountants Bashir Ahmad Misgar and Gulzar Ahmad Beigh for the “misappropriation of JKCA funds amounting to Rs 43.69 crore” from grants given by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to promote the sport in the state between 2002-11.

The ED said its probe found that JKCA received Rs 94.06 crore from BCCI in three different bank accounts during financial years 2005-2006 to 2011-2012 (up to December 2011).

The ED alleged that several other bank accounts were opened in the name of the JKCA into which the funds were transferred. The bank accounts along with the existing bank accounts were later used for laundering JKCA funds.

Abdullah’s son and NC leader Omar Abdullah said the ED action was “…nothing less than political vendetta” and came days after the formation of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration.

Other leaders also spoke out on the issue.

The NC’s long-term rival, PDP, which has joined the Alliance, also condemned the ED’s action. PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who was released after 14 months last week, deplored the “use of agencies to browbeat mainstream parties in JK”.

She said the ED’s “sudden summons to Farooq sahab displays the extent of GOIs nervousness about mainstream parties in JK fighting as one unit”.

(It) Also reeks of political vendetta and won’t in the least blunt our collective resolve to fight for our rights,” she said on Twitter.

People’s Conference leader Sajjad Lone echoed her.

“What a sorry state of affairs. Dr Farooq sahib summoned by ED. Reeks of vendetta. Contrary to what they want to coercively achieve this will certainly have the opposite impact,” he tweeted.

The National Conference said in a statement that the summons is clearly the result of the unity that Dr Sahib has been able to forge among mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir .

“This is the price one faces when opposed to BJP’s ideology and divisive politics. Recent history is a witness to how BJP has been employing coercive and intimidative measures through various departments to target opposition leaders across the country…,”it said.

The NC said “the timing of the recent summons is very clear” as his previous summons was just before August 5 last year.

The statement said its president continues to maintain “his innocence and will cooperate with the authorities in what is nothing but a witch hunt”.

In February this year, the ED attached assets worth Rs 2.6 crore of Mirza and Gazanfer, a member of the finance committee of the JKCA. The agency alleged that Mirza transferred huge amounts into his personal bank accounts, and the money was further transferred or withdrawn in cash.

“Out of the laundered amounts, Rs 1.31 crore was received by Gazanffer who was a member of the finance committee of JKCA between 2006 to 2009.”

The ED claimed the committee was arbitrarily constituted by Abdullah, the then JKCA president.

According to the agency, the then “duly elected treasurer Mukhtar Kanth resigned in 2004. Farooq Abdullah appointed Mirza as JKCA treasurer without holding elections as mandated under the JKCA Rules, 1957”.

“In the JKCA elections held in 2006, Gazanfer was elected as Treasurer of JKCA and there was a brief court stay upon his acting as Treasurer of JKCA when Farooq Abdullah continued Mirza as the treasurer of JKCA,” the ED said.

The court stay was vacated the same year and Gazanfer was not given charge of treasurer. Instead, Farooq Abdullah constituted a finance committee comprising Mirza and Gazanfer and both were empowered to jointly operate JKCA bank accounts, it said.

The two “opened a personal bank account” in their joint names with Jammu and Kashmir Bank and crores of funds belonging to JKCA were transferred into it, the agency alleged. The funds were either withdrawn in cash or transferred to other bank accounts including the bank account of Mirza’s firm, it added.

In 2011, Mirza was elected JKCA general secretary and Farooq Abdullah president.

During the period, JKCA funds were continuously laundered, the ED alleged.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday said if the Mumbai police crime branch proposes to arraign Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in the television rating points (TRP) case, it should first issue summons to him as was done for eight others in the case.

A division bench of justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik said if such a summons is issued then Goswami shall appear before the police and cooperate with the investigation.

The court also directed police to submit for its perusal investigation papers pertaining to the case in a sealed cover by November 5 when it would hear the matter.

“The FIR is not an encyclopedia. We would like to peruse the investigation papers and see what probe has been done from today till the next date of hearing,” the court said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd, which owns Republic TV, and Goswami seeking to quash the FIR lodged on October 6.

The petition has also sought a direction to transfer the case to CBI to ensure a fair and transparent probe and also on the ground that the case will have pan-India repercussions.

The plea said the HC should stay the investigation and restrain police from taking any coercive action against the petitioners pending the hearing of their petition.

Appearing for the petitioners, senior counsel Harish Salve sought the court to grant Goswami protection from arrest.

“The police have been targeting him (Goswami) and there is apprehension that he may be arrested,” Salve said.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for Maharashtra government and police, said since Goswami has not been named as accused in the case as of now, there cannot be any order granting him protection.

Sibal told the court that till now police have issued summons to eight persons in connection with the TRP case and questioned them.

“None of these persons has been arrested,” he said.

In a media release, Republic TV claimed Maharashtra government and Mumbai police have admitted in court that the channel is not named in the FIR in the TRP case.

The court noted that since Goswami has not been named as an accused in the case, it cannot pass an order granting him protection or directing the police to not take any coercive action against him.

“In case the Investigating Officer proposes to name petitioner No 2 (Goswami) as accused in the case, then, as done with the eight persons, the summons shall be issued to him (Goswami). The petitioner No 2 shall then cooperate with the police,” the court said.

The court also raised questions on whether it was correct on the part of the Mumbai police and its commissioner Param Bir Singh to hold press conferences in such matters.

“We don’t know if it is the correct method or procedure to give interviews to the media. We are not talking about just this matter but many sensitive cases…we find police giving information to the media even when an investigation is in progress. Police are not supposed to reveal incriminating information pertaining to the case,” Justice Shinde said.

Sibal, while agreeing to this, assured the court that the police shall not speak to the media with regard to the TRP scam case.

“But at the same time, even the petitioner channel should assure the court it will not indulge in the vilification of the police and conduct a media trial,” he said.

To this, Justice Shinde said, “Media is considered as the fourth pillar of democracy and, hence, they too need to behave responsibly.”

Salve, while seeking for the FIR to be quashed, argued that no offence is made out and the entire conduct of the police reeks of malafide and was only an attempt to silence the voice of the petitioners.

“The petitioner has been targeted by the police and the Maharashtra government since his strong reports during the Palghar lynching incident. A slew of FIRs has been registered against him after his reports then. This whole thing is a disguise and excuse to target Goswami and Republic TV,” Salve said.

Sibal, however, said the Palghar lynching incident and the petitioners’ reports on the same have nothing to do with the present case.

“The present investigation pertains to money paid to rig TRPs in order to gain commercial profit. The investigation is at a nascent stage. Maybe many other media channels are also involved,” Sibal told the court.

The TV channel filed the plea in HC on October 16, a day after the Supreme Court refused to hear a plea filed by one of its senior officials challenging the summons issued to them by the Mumbai police.

“The officers and key managerial persons of the channel and Arnab Goswami have reasonable and tangible grounds to believe they will be apprehended by the Mumbai police in connection with the FIR which is false, frivolous, politically motivated and an attempt to muzzle the media and silence the news reporting by Republic TV,” the petition said.

The Mumbai Crime Branch registered the FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating, criminal breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy against Republic TV and its senior officials and also against two other local regional channels.

The plea also said the court should initiate a CBI inquiry and disciplinary proceedings under the service rules against Param Bir Singh for “gross dereliction of duty and abuse of power”.

“Republic Media Network Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director Arnab Goswami have directed his legal team Phoenix Legal to initiate the proceedings to sue Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh for Rs. 200 crore damages– Rs. 100 crore for damage to the reputation of Arnab Goswami, and Rs. 100 crore for the damage caused to Republic Media Network,” Republic TV said in the statement.

“At present, the legal teams of Republic are in the process of filing the defamation suit against Param Bir Singh,” the channel said.

“Contradicting their own Police Commissioner, the Mumbai Police and Maharashtra Government lawyer today in the Bombay High Court admitted that Republic is not named in the FIR in the TRP case, and seemed to distance itself from the allegations made by the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh,” the statement said.

“Following this admission by the Maharashtra Government in open court, Arnab Goswami has directed that he will take every legal action against Param Bir Singh (and others if so required) and seek damages via a defamation suit,” the channel said.

Republic TV said it will file a contempt petition against Special Executive Magistrate and Assistant Police Commissioner Sudhir Jambwadekar, “on account of the fact that he initiated chapter proceedings with respect to FIRs that have been suspended by the orders of the Bombay High Court.”