The FIR accused Republic TV's editorial team of inciting 'disaffection' among the police personnel against commissioner Param Bir Singh and maligning the city police’s image.
Mumbai Police has reportedly filed a criminal case against the entire editorial staff of the Republic Media Network.
The FIR accused Republic TV's editorial team of inciting 'disaffection' among the police personnel against commissioner Param Bir Singh and maligning the city police’s image.
This is the fourth criminal case registered against Republic TV channel and its employees by the city police.
The latest FIR is registered by the Special Branch-1 (SB1), the intelligence wing of the city police, at the NM Joshi Marg police station. The complainant Shashikant Pawar is a sub-inspector posted at the Social Media Lab.
Earlier in the day, the channel put out a statement saying: "In a brazen, blatant & shocking attack on press freedom by Mumbai Police, Republic Media Network has been issued notice to submit details of every transaction since inception & list every single journalist & employee. We will fight each & every strongarm tactic."
"The CFO of the Republic Media Network on 22 October 2020 was issued a notice under Section 91 of the CrPC whereby details of 'valuation report', 'ledger copies', 'trade receivables', 'broadcasting expenses', 'employee benefit expenses', 'promotion expenses' amongst others have been sought. This effectively means from electricity bills to editing machine expenses, to details of provident funds of employees, to details of loans issued to employees for medical emergencies, to the cost of cameras, to cost of studio maintenance, to the cost of purchasing hand sanitizers, to carpeting costs in the office -- every single ledger and expense detail has been sought."
The channel claimed that the FIR was filed because the police received nothing concrete to build case based on multiple rounds of questioning with Executive Editor Niranjan Narayanaswamy, Senior Executive Editor Abhishek Kapoor, Republic Media Network's CEO, CFO and top distribution executives, for a total of more than 100 hours.
Mumbai Police, meanwhile, is tight-lipped on the matter