MUMBAI: Bombay high court on Wednesday asked the special public prosecutor in the Television Ratings Points (TRP) manipulation scam case if the state intends to continue its investigation against Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV and ARG Outlier Media, which runs the channel.
A bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale directed special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray to inform the court by Thursday 11 am and deferred till then a plea by Goswami and the company seeking quashing of the FIR or transfer of the probe to CBI or another independent agency.
Police have not named Goswami as an accused with a “mala fide intention” to keep the probe open-ended to harass him, argued senior counsel Ashok Mundergi with Niranjan Mundergi, appearing for Goswami. He added there was no significant material against Goswami despite investigation by Mumbai police for over four months. Mundergi pointed to witnesses statements which he said were “clearly inadmissible”, but had been annexed to the chargesheet. “If the police have any material collected against him, let them show it,” said Mundergi.
Hiray, countering Mundergi, said the police had a “strong case’’ and “sufficient evidence’’. He cited a report dated October 7, 2020, of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) based on which the suspicion was based. He said there were two reports of BARC, including an internal investigation, and both were in the chargesheet. He said the police are investigating the TRP scam case.
Justice Shinde, who heads the bench, said to Hiray, “Take instructions if you want to investigate further. We want a statement. What are you going to do further?” Hiray when asked by the HC said senior counsel Kapil Sibal will appear for state. When Mundergi argued there is no case against Goswami despite two chargesheets. Justice Shinde asked him, “Do you want us to draw an inference that even after two chargesheets there is no sufficient material collected?” The judge asked the prosecution how long it wanted the investigation to continue. “This is like many cases we have seen ‘khichdi pakk rahi hai, but for how long?” said Justice Shinde. “A person should be able to take a breath and it should not be like a sword hanging over someone’s head.” Mundergi said arrests cannot be made merely on suspicion with no material.