The crime branch has made a submission before a sessions court on Monday, when the anticipatory bail plea of Sivasubramanian Sundaram, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd. - the company that runs Republic TV and R. Bharat, first came up for hearing, that it would not take any coercive action against him till today when the matter will be heard before the court again.
Monday was the first day of hearing of the application. Advocate Niranjan Mundargi, appearing for S. Sundaram confirmed the submission made by the prosecution. The submission was sought by the court after Mundargi told the court that Sundaram apprehends arrest similar to the way the CEO of his company - Vikas Khanchandani was arrested on Sunday, while his anticipatory bail was to be heard on Monday. Both had filed pleas on Friday.
In his plea, the 48-year-old has said that an attempt is being made to muzzle the media by filing multiple cases against the Editor-in-Chief of ARG Arnab Goswami and its other employees. He further said that the FIR in the case has been registered on politically motivated grounds. He has fully cooperated in the investigation and undergone 45 hours of semi-custodial interrogation at the hands of the Mumbai police in the TRP scam.
The court on Monday also granted anticipatory bail to Sanjay Verma, CEO, Maha Movie channel. On Friday, an incharge sessions court had granted anticipatory bail to Priya Mukharjee, 43, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of ARG Outlier. In its order granting pre-arrest bail, the court had said the chargesheet has already been filed, she had already been called many times for investigation, and that some of the accused are already released on bail. It further said that the investigation may be carried out without her custody and that the investigation officer may collect Call Detail Record and other reports from the concerned authorities.
