Former TV9 CEO Raviprakash arrested

The Hyderabad police on Saturday arrested V Ravi Prakash, former chief executive officer of popular television channel TV9, for allegedly siphoning off Rs 18.31 crore from Associated Broadcasting Company Limited (ABCL) the owners of the news channel. Alanda Media and Entertainment Private Limited, promoted by real state major My Home Group and infrastructure giant Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) acquired 90.54 per cent of the shares in the ABCL on 27 August, 2018.

Raviprakash’s arrest came after the new management of the ABCL lodged a complaint with the Banjara Hills police on Friday evening. The police registered cases against Ravi Prakash under various sections of Indian Penal Code, including cheating and criminal breach of trust. Ravi Prakash, who owns a minor stake in the company, was sacked from the post of CEO and also as director on 10 May, this year.

The ABCL management in the complaint has alleged that Ravi Prakash and his associate M K V N Murthy had drawn huge sums from the bank accounts of the company without valid reason and board’s approval. “His acts amount to cheating, gross misappropriation of funds, causing wrongful loss to the company and thereby getting personal benefit at the cost of the company, “a company spokesperson said.

The new management says that scrutiny of accounts revealed that Ravi Prakash had fraudulently diverted Rs 6.36 crore into his account and another Rs 5.97 crore each into the accounts of other directors Murthy and Clifford Pereira. The three persons have withdrawn Rs 18.31 crore in total. After tax deductions they received a net amount of Rs 11.74 crore. The cheques were signed by Ravi Prakash and Murty.

The ABCL in its complaint said that the accused have showed the amounts under the bonus/ex gratia header by producing ante-dated documents. The duo have told the accounts department to enter the amounts in that particular category without the approval of the board.