Police conducts searches at Mangalam TV channel office

The Kerala police today conducted searches at Managalam TV channel office and recorded its employees' statement in the case of airing of purported sleaze talks of a state minister making him quit the Cabinet.
A Special Investigating Team of the state police inspected electronic equipments at the channel office and verified their broadcasting license, said police sources.
The nine accused employees including the channel's CEO and Managing Director R Ajit Kumar, apprehending their arrests and busy seeking anticipatory bail from the Kerala High Court did not appear before the police team even today.
They have been served notice to appear before the SIT.

As per the FIR filed against the nine TV channel staffers, they had entered into a 'criminal conspiracy' to malign Saseendran.
The accused had aired an audio tape of sleaze talks on the channel and published it on its its Facebook page as well, the said the FIR.
Making its debut, the channel had on March 26 aired the audio clip of the purported talks of Saseendran, the NCP representative in the LDF cabinet, with a woman, after which he had resigned the same day.
In a twist to the episode, the channel had later tendered apology for airing the contents and admitted it was a "sting operation" involving one of its women journalists and not a housewife, as it had claimed earlier.