Ravi Prakash, the founder and CEO of TV9, has been replaced after the Board of Associated Broadcasting Pvt Ltd (ABCPL) passed a resolution revoking all powers vested with him. The decision comes just 24 hours after Ravi Prakash went live on the air to assure viewers that he was still the CEO.
“The Board of ABCPCL in its meeting held on May 8 and the shareholders in the EGM held on May 10 have passed a resolution revoking all powers vested with Director and CEO Ravi Prakash and Director and CFO M K V N Murthy with immediate effect,” a statement by Alanda Media & Entertainments Pvt Ltd said.
Alanda said that ABPCL will continue to function as a separate unit, with them being the majority shareholders.
The statement also stated, “banks, public institutions and media are hereby notified not to deal with them or act on any of their instructions.”
The Cyberabad police in Hyderabad on Thursday said that they had registered two cases against the leading television news channel’s CEO and some others of the company on charges of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy.
The dispute relates to Alanda Media buying more than 90.54% stake in TV9 recently. The company has alleged that Ravi Prakash actively opposed Alanda's move to appoint four directors and also allegedly indulged in forgery.
“Alanda acquired 90.54% shares in ABCPL in August 2018 from the erstswhile promoters of ABCPCL. On becoming the majority shareholder, Alanda nominated four persons to be appointed as Directors on the board of ABCPL. The four were duly appointed as per provisions of the Companies Act and were also approved by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry,” the statement said.
However, Alanda alleged that Ravi Prakash and Murthy did not file the DIR-12 form with the Registrar of Companies (ROC) to register this appointment and also “removed the Company Secretary by forging his signature” with ‘malafide’ intent.
A request to convene a Board Meeting was also allegedly declined.
“This proves that Ravi Prakash and Murthy had malafide intention of not allowing Alanda, the majority shareholder, to participate in the management of ABPCL through its new directors," the statement said.
Alanda said that Board meetings were then convened by the new directors on April 23 and May 3 “for appointment of lawyers to represent the case of ABPCL before NCLT.”
A case related to the dispute is scheduled for hearing at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on May 16.
Alanda alleges that the Ravi Prakash and Murthy filed false cases on the new directors and even colluded with third parties to do the same to hamper the work of the new directors.
Interim CEO appointed
In their statement, Alanda said that they appointed Mahendra Mishra, who had been handling the channel’s Karnataka operations till now, as the Interim CEO. Mishra had been with ABCPCL since its inception, the statement said. Singa Rao was appointed as Chief Operating Officer (COO) to aid the Interim CEO.
“The organisation is committed to its core values of delivering unbiased and high quality journalism to millions of audiences… the board would like to thank them and assure that the organisation would strive hard to live up to their expectations at all times,” the statement concluded.
Police probe on
The cyber crime wing of the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate on April 24 registered a case on a complaint from P Kaushik Rao, Director of Alanda, that Ravi Prakash, actor S Shivaji and others committed forgery by false documents for their wrongful gain. Another case was also registered on April 30.
The accused were booked under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 471 (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
On a search warrant issued by a court, the police on Thursday conducted searches at the office of ABPCL at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad and the residences of the accused.
"During searches in various places, the teams have seized important documents and electronic evidence. The seized materials will be forwarded to Forensic Science Laboratory for further analysis," police said.
The police said that investigation was ongoing and further action would be taken as per the law.