Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police on Saturday arrested former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TV9, V Ravi Prakash, in connection with the alleged withdrawal of Rs 18.31 crores from Associate Broadcasting Company Limited (ABCL), the promoter of TV9. Ravi Prakash holds 8.25 per cent stake in ABCL.
Alanda Media and Entertainment had bought a 90 per cent stake in Associated Broadcasting Company Limited (ABCL) in August 2018 and became a major shareholder and acquired the ownership of the company, which runs 24 hour news channels in several languages under the TV9 logo.
Board of Directors of Alanda Media lodged a complaint at Banjara hills police station against Ravi Prakash on September 24, alleging that he and former director, MKVN Murty, withdrew Rs 18.31 crores between September 2018 and May 2019 without the permission of board members.
In his complaint, the current CEO of TV9, Gottipati Singa Rao, stated, “During the verification of accounts by the new Board of Directors, it has come to light that former directors, V Ravi Prakash, MKVN Murthy and Clifford Pereira (Director of ABCL) have fraudulently withdrawn huge sums from the bank accounts of the company without substantiating any entitlement under law and without following the prescribed procedure”.
The complaint also states Ravi Prakash withdrew Rs 6.36 crores, Murty withdrew Rs 5.97 crores and the remaining sum was paid to Clifford Pereira as bonus.
“Based on the preliminary information, we have arrested Ravi Prakash. More than Rs 18 crores have been misused. We will ask for custody for further investigation,” said B Sumathi, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP).
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