TV9's new management sacks Ravi Prakash as CEO

The new management of TV9 multilingual television news channels on Friday sacked Ravi Prakash and M.K.V.N Murthy, both whole-time directors and CEO and CFO respectively.

Alanda Media & Entertainments Pvt Ltd, which acquired 90.54% stakes in Associated Broadcasting Pvt Ltd (ABCPL), the owner of the TV9 group of channels, appointed Mahendra Mishra, the head of TV9 Kannada, as the interim Chief Executive Officer(CEO).

The board of directors also appointed G. Singa Rao as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO). Rao is currently CEO of Telugu channel 10TV.

Board executive director S Sambasiva Rao told reporters that the board's decision was endorsed by the meeting of shareholders. Ravi Prakash, who still holds shares in the company, did not attend the shareholders meeting.

Meanwhile, Ravi Prakash wrote a letter to the new board of directors alleging that they were trying to trouble him by using their political influence. He said the board was working to destroy journalism with the political interference.

Ravi Prakash, who had been heading TV9 channel since its launch in 2004, alleged that board coerced the company secretary to lodge a false complaint of forgery against him.

"As a fellow shareholder, I will continue to be beside you. My fight will continue", he wrote to the management.

Friday's developments came a day after Cyberabad police revealed that it has booked two criminals cases against Ravi Prakash, Murthy and actor S. Shivaji on two complaints by Alanda Director P. Kaushik Rao.

The police conducted searches at the residences of the trio and at TV 9 office in Hyderabad and seized some hard disks and documents. They were charged with forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

The cases were a fallout of Ravi Prakash's rift with Alanda after it acquired majority shares in ABCPL in August 2018 and nominated four persons to be appointed as directors on the board.

Alanda alleged that Ravi Prakash and Murthy failed to file a form with the Registrar of Companies (ROC) confirming their appointment. "They also removed the company secretary by forging his signature so as not to upload the names of new directors with the ROC," said Alanda.

It alleged that they had malafide intention of not allowing Alanda to participate in the management of the ABCPL through its new directors.

It said the duo also filed false cases against directors before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

--IANS

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