Maharashtra gets time till Jan 6 to reply to amended Goswami plea

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday allowed the Maharashtra government time till January 6 to file its reply on an amended petition of Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami, in which he is seeking to quash an FIR about his company's alleged involvement in the manipulation of Television Rating Points (TRP).

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Maharashtra Government said that the state would like to file its reply on the amendment petition. “We will continue investigation but will not take can coercive action. If the state wants to take any coercive action, it will come to the court before taking any such action,” argued Sibal.

Abad Ponda, senior counsel, appearing for Republic TV argued that the government must issue a notice to the company before taking any action.


A division bench of Justice SS Shinde and MS Karnik, allowed the state time to file its response.

ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd, which runs Republic TV, and Goswami have approached the court seeking to quash the FIR. They have also asked the court to transfer the investigation to the CBI.

However, after Maharashtra Police filed a chargesheet, Goswami sought more time to amend the petition, which the court had allowed.

Meanwhile, a local Mumbai court on Wednesday granted bail to Republic’s CEO Vikas Khanchandani, who was arrested in the alleged TRP rigging scam.

Khanchandani, arrested on Sunday from his residence, was granted bail on a cash surety of `50,000, his lawyer Niteen Pradhan said.