[TRP Scam] Republic employees not even named accused yet, petition not maintainable: Mumbai Police reply to Republic plea

The Mumbai Police has stated in its reply before the Bombay High Court that the plea filed by ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd challenging proceedings initiated against it in the Television Rating Points scam (TRP scam) is not maintainable, as the employees of Republic TV have not even been named as accused..As the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Esplanade, Mumbai has taken cognizance of the offences mentioned in the chargesheets filed before it, the Police has contended that ARG's petition would no longer be maintainable..“Taking cognizance in law means that the judge after perusing the chargesheet and applying his judicial mind believes there is enough material to prima facie come to conclusion that offences in the chargesheet have been committed, by the persons qua whom summons have been issued”, the reply states..The Police has stated that the accused have no right to seek a change in the investigating agency or direct how an investigation is to be done. It has thus termed ARG Outlier’s plea as nothing but an "abuse of process"..It is further pointed out that the petitioners are free to move the appropriate court for relief like anticipatory bail if they apprehend arrest following their interrogation.“Such is the law that applies to other citizens of the country”, the Mumbai Police..Another ground for non-maintainability of the petition, according to the Police, is,“Article 226 of the Constitution can never be invoked as an appropriate remedy to delve into facts under investigation.”.The reply states that Republic TV has been holding programmes where the TRP case is being discussed at length. Another claim made is that the channel's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami is also contacting various witnesses who have been summoned on his television programme to discuss the content of their statements at length..The Police claims that the entire effort of Goswami is to have a ‘media trial’ with regard to the alleged TRP scam wherein the TV channels owned by ARG Outlier are given ‘clean chit’ and officials of the Mumbai Police are shown in bad light. Such kind of media trial is antithetical to the process of free and fair investigation, the reply contends..Further, it is claimed that the investigation carried out so far discloses the commission of the alleged offences..The Police has sought leave from the Court to refer to the recently leaked WhatsApp chats between Goswami and former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) CEO Partho Dasgupta.