The decision means that the CBI will need to enter the jurisdiction of the state to carry out any investigation and effectively enforce the central agency of its powers to investigate matters related to the state.
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| Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray ordered the CBI to withdraw the general consent after the central agency registered a case related to the TRP scam. (File photo) The Uddhav Thackeray government on Wednesday withdrew the consensus given by Maharashtra to the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate cases in the state. The decision means that the CBI would need to enter the jurisdiction of the state to effectively remove the central agency of its powers to investigate cases in Maharashtra. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
At least three non-BJP-ruled states - Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal - have already withdrawn their general consent to help the CBI investigate cases falling under their jurisdiction.
Officials said that the Maharashtra government's decision will not affect the CBI probe in the case of Sushant Singh Rajput's death as the probe is being conducted on the orders of the Supreme Court and not under the provisions in which the state is required to give its consent . On Wednesday, a day after the order issued by the Maharashtra Home Department, the Uttar Pradesh government filed a first information report on one aspect of the television rating points case and immediately handed over the case to the CBI. The move was seen by the Maharashtra government as an attempt by the UP government to lay the foundation for the CBI to end the investigations being conducted by the Mumbai Police against Republic TV. The leaders of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra had registered the CBI as an attempt to "dilute" the case against Republic TV in the TRP scam. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Mumbai Police investigation launched against Republic TV earlier this month has created a new face between Thackeray-led alliance with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party's Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi and Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA. In this case, the Mumbai Police had named Republic TV as one of the three television channels that tried to remove its television rating. Arnab Goswami of Republic TV denied the allegations. The scandal came to light when the ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) complained that some channels were rigging TRP numbers to lure advertisers. The TRP of a channel or program is used by advertising agencies to measure the popularity of channels that influence pricing. The mark is calculated by the BARC in India using a device installed in more than 45,000 households in the country called "Bar-O-Meter". The device collects data about a program or channel watched by members of these households, based on which weekly ratings are released by BARC. It was alleged that some families whose homes had meters installed to collect audience data were being bribed to tune into a particular channel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this case, Mumbai Police arrested eight people on Tuesday. ************************************** |