TV9 CEO booked in forgery case

Cyberabad police on Thursday conducted searches at the office and residence of Associated Broadcasting Company Pvt Ltd (ABCPL) Chief Executive Officer V Ravi Prakash and a few others, following a complaint of “forging documents and preventing the company’s promoters from taking over its operations”. Alanda Media and Entertainments Private Limited Director P Kaushik Rao had approached Cyber Crime police on April 24, alleging that Mr Prakash, Tollywood actor S Shivaji and others forged his signature and wrote a letter to the board stating that Mr. Kaushik was against the appointment of four new directors. “The letter also cited that Mr. Kaushik too does not want to be the company’s director. Mr. Prakash was against the decision of the new promoters and forged the documents,” police said. Based on the complaint lodged by Mr. Kaushik, whose firm holds 90% equity in ABCPL, two cases under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act were booked against Ravi Prakash, Mr. Shivaji and others. ABCPL runs a bouquet of news channel, including TV 9 Telugu. Sources said Mr. Shivaji was in possession of 40 lakh shares in ABCPL, which he brought it for ₹ 20 lakh. ‘Criminal conspiracy’ In his complaint, Mr. Kaushik informed the police that a “criminal conspiracy had been launched by certain individuals with the motive of derailing the operations of the company, cause financial loss and damage to its reputation”. “Mr. Shivaji along with Ravi Prakash created false and fabricated ante-dated documents with malice and fraudulent intention wherein Mr. Shivaji allegedly entered into share purchase agreement on ante date with Ravi Prakash and paid the total amount, since the transfer of shares was not effected till date,” reads the First Information Report (FIR), which is in possession of The Hindu. Further, Mr. Kaushik suspected that someone had stolen the ‘confidential’ data and gave it to outsiders to cause damage and irreparable loss to the company. In another complaint, Mr. Kaushik stated that Mr Prakash also “forged the signatures of company secretary Devender Agarwal and sent his resignation to Registrar of Companies”. Police teams carried out searches at four places, including TV9 office, residences of Ravi Prakash, Mr Shivaji and Mr. MVKN Murthy, in Banjara Hills, Himayath Nagar and Khairatabad respectively. “During the searches, we seized several important documents and electronic evidence, which will be sent to Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory for further analysis,” Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said He said that detailed investigation is being carried out and action will be taken against the accused. Sources confirmed that Ravi Prakash, who is also the founder of TV9 holds 8% stake in the company, developed differences with Mr. Kaushik over the operations of the news channel. Later in the evening, Ravi Prakash appeared on TV to dismiss rumours that he was absconding and will be arrested by the police. “The case is before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and would come up for hearing on May 16 and some people are trying implicate me in false cases,” he said. Meanwhile, the cyber crime police asked Mr. Ravi Prakash to appear before them at 11 a.m. on Friday. Source: The Hindu