Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd, which owns Times Now, has filed a criminal case against its former employee Arnab Goswami alleging he stole phone recordings that he eventually used in much-hyped Republic TV’s Stories On Lalu Prasad Yadav And Shashi Tharoor.
The BCCL complaint said the audio tapes of both the stories were procured and accessed while both Goswami and Prema Sridevi were Times Now employees.
The station house officer at the Azad Maidan Police Station in Mumbai has confirmed to Outlook that the police have received a complaint from BCCL on Tuesday. “We received the complaint yesterday and we will register the case after (preliminary) inquiry,” the SHO told Outlook on phone.
The Economic Times, published by the BCCL, has reported that the company has lodged a complaint against Goswami and his colleague Prema Sridevi for infringing its copyright.
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The complaint alleges commission of offences of theft, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of property and infringement of IPR of BCCL by using the same on Republic TV on multiple occasions.
The complaint alleges that Goswami and Sridevi have wilfully, deliberately and with knowledge converted for their benefit and used the aforesaid intellectual property of Times Now and thereby dishonestly misappropriated the said intellectual property, thereby committing the offence of criminal misappropriation of property punishable under section 403 of IPC and several other provisions under applicable laws.
When contacted by Outlook, Sridevi, Editor, News & Special Projects at Republic TV who had reported the story on Tharoor, said she was not aware of the complaint against her. “We here at Republic TV believe in independent journalism and we will pursue the truth in the Sunanda Pushkar case,” she said.
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Earlier, Times Now had served a legal notice to Goswami against using ‘The Nation Wants To Know’ phrase on Republic TV..
