Cable channel owners, anchor among 5 held for blackmailing godman

The proprietors and the anchor of an obscure Kannada cable television channel have been arrested for blackmailing a self-styled godman.

Police said Kaveri TV Kannada ran a “smear campaign” against Vinay Guruji, a 32-year-old founder of Mahatma Gandhi Seva Trust. The channel’s proprietors, Murali, 34, and Manoj Kumar Pandith, 24, and anchor Ravi Kumar, 48, covered various events attended by Vinay. They later edited the videos to show him in a poor light. The videos were uploaded to the channel’s YouTube channel of the same name.

Two weeks ago, a member of the gang called up Prashanth J P, a close aide of Vinay, and demanded Rs 30 lakh to delete the videos and stop further damage to his reputation. He allegedly threatened to upload more damaging videos if the money was not paid.

The trap

Prashanth, however, went to the cybercrime police on February 4. On police’s instructions, he asked the suspects to meet him in Bengaluru and collect money. The gang called him to an apartment in Kengeri on Friday. But police caught Manoj and Murali. During the interrogation, they revealed the names of Ravi Kumar and two of their other associates — Muniraj, 61, and Manjunath, 40.