Two senior journalists of the Telugu television channel TV 5 were arrested on Friday night and criminal cases filed against two other channels, after overnight attacks on Reliance groups’ outlets in Andhra Pradesh.
Three Telugu channels — TV 5, NTV and Saakshi TV — were booked on charges of promoting enmity among different groups and indulging in acts prejudicial to harmony (Sections 153 A and 505 -2 of the IPC and Section 16 of the Cable TV Networks Regulation Act, 1995). The cases were booked in three police stations and later handed over to the Crime Investigation Department (CID).
CID sleuths picked up Brahmananda Reddy, senior executive editor, and P. Venkatakrishna, input editor of TV 5, from their office, Shreya Broadcasting Pvt. Ltd. amid protests by staff. Earlier, the police searched the office for evidence of the channel’s speculative report alleging a high-level conspiracy involving the Reliance groups in the death of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash on September 2, 2009.
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited issued a strongly-worded denial. Expressing shock at the ‘libellous’ report, an RIL spokesman said the company was a law-abiding corporate citizen and was grieved at YSR’s tragic death. RIL would file a criminal complaint against TV 5 , he said.
‘Disinformation campaign’
Separately, Reliance ADA Group of Anil Ambani also denounced the ‘disinformation campaign’ that led to substantial damage to its offices and businesses. “We are shocked to see our corporate rivals stooping to new levels of desperation by engaging in such imaginative and baseless rumour-mongering,” a spokesperson said.
(This report was corrected on January 9, 2010 for a factual inaccuracy)
