Ravi Prakash, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of popular Telugu television channel TV9, has been sacked from his post by the channel’s new management.
Alanda Media Entertainment Private Limited, a joint venture of My Home Group headed by Jupalli Rameshwar Rao and Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Private Limited (MEIL) Krishna Reddy, which bought over majority of the stakes in the Associated Broadcasting Company Limited that owned TV9, reportedly removed Ravi Prakash from the CEO post.
In his place, Singa Rao, presently CEO of 10TV, also promoted by My Home Group, has been appointed as the new CEO of TV9.
What is more, Alanda Media also filed a complaint with the Cybercrime police of Hyderabad, alleging that Ravi Prakash had siphoned off huge funds from ABCL into his own media venture Mojo TV.
It further alleged that Ravi Prakash had indulged in forgery of Alanda Media’s director Koushik Rao, in a bid to stall the appointment of new directors on the board by My Home group and MEIL. Thus, it is alleged Ravi Prakash tried to prevent Alanda from taking control of TV9 channel from him.
The Cybercrime police have been conducting searches in the offices of TV9 amidst tight police bandobust.
Alanda Media bought 90 per cent of the stakes from ABCL recently, thereby liberating the TV9 channel from Ravi Prakash’s clutches. It got the permission from Union ministry of information and broadcasting for appointing four full-time directors.
However, Ravi Prakash tried to stall the formation of the new board. So, he wrote to the the Centre allegedly forging the signature Kaushik Rao opposing the appointment of new directors.
This led to the Cybercrime police booking a case against him. Apparently, Ravi Prakash and his team have allegedly stolen some hard discs and other documents pertaining to share transactions.
What is worse, Ravi Prakash also sought to create troubles to the new management through actor Shivaji, who claimed to have bought 10,000 shares in the channel. However, it is believed that Shivaji only held benami shares of Ravi Prakash.
The company law board is examining the case now.