Ravi Prakash removed as CEO of TV9

Hyderabad: A day after a case was registered against Ravi Prakash, CEO of TV9 channel, for allegedly cheating the company promoters, Alanda Media and Entertainment, which has acquired majority stake in the company, Friday announced his removal.

Alanda Media and Entertainment said it has removed Ravi Prakash as CEO and that Mahendra Mishra has been appointed as the Interim head.

Mishra currently heads the TV9 channel.

Police had on Thursday filed cases against Ravi Prakash for allegedly cheating the company’s promoters by forging documents and also under different IT Acts.

Ravi Prakash has however denied the charges and alleged that cases were foisted on him.

“In view of the mala fide intentions and fraudulent acts of Ravi Prakash on May 8, the Board removed him as CEO and EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) held today ratified it.

The Board has also removed M K V N Murthy, Whole Time Director and CFO with immediate effect,” Sambasiva Rao, newly appointed director of Associated Broadcasting Company Pvt. Ltd (ABCPL), told a press conference here.

He said the Board also appointed four persons as per the provisions of the Companies Act, which was approved by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The Board also appointed former veteran journalist Singa Rao as Chief Operating Officer to assist the new CEO.

Last year, Alanda Media and Entertainment had bought a 90 per cent stake in ABCL, which runs 24 hour news channels in several languages under the TV9 logo.

However, differences cropped up between the buyers and the CEO, who is said to hold a little over eight per cent stake in the company, sources close to the development said.

A ABCPL press note said Ravi Prakash forged the signature of the Company Secretary to mislead the Registrar of Companies on certain issues when he was the CEO.

Ravi Prakash and Murthy, with “selfish interest and mala fide intentions”, filed wrong cases against the new directors and colluded with third parties to file wrong cases against the company and created a situation so that the new directors would not be able to function properly, the note said.

Police had Thursday said that searches were carried out at the office of the CEO and the residence of Telugu actor Shivaji, who is said to hold some shares of ABCL.

The case was booked based on a complaint by P Kaushik Rao, Director of Alanda Media and Entertainments Pvt Ltd, who alleged that the CEO created fake documents and was trying to prevent the new management of the company from taking over the operations, police had said.