Mumbai (TIP): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation case.
ED’s case is based on Mumbai police’s FIR that is being investigated by a special investigation team (SIT) of Mumbai Crime branch. SIT officials previously claimed that Republic TV’s distribution head paid Rs15 lakh a month for seven months to a fixer to boost the viewership of the channel.
SIT officials also suspected some Hawala transactions took place between the executives of some channels and vendors to boost the viewership of their channels illegally. ED may look into these suspicious financial transactions.
ED is the second central agency to get involved in a case concerning TRPs. Interestingly, soon after the Mumbai Police launched its investigation, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case on a TRP racket in Uttar Pradesh.
A senior ED officer confirmed to HT that an EICR has been registered in the TRP manipulation matter and the probe has begun. HT learns that the probe will cover all the channels named in the original FIR?and not just Republic TV. ED?officials said senior executives of all these channels will be summoned for questioning by ED officials.
(Source: HT)