Republic TV’s chief financial officer (CFO), who was summoned by Mumbai police to appear before them at 11am on Saturday in connection with allegations of TRP manipulation, skipped the meeting saying that the channel had approached the Supreme Court.

Shiva Subramaniyam Sundaram, the CFO on whom summons were issued on Friday, requested the police not to record his statement because the top court would hear the petition within a week, a senior official said.

However, Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director of Madison World and Madison Communications, appeared before the crime branch to record his statement in the same case, the official said.

The Mumbai crime branch, which is investigating alleged TRP manipulation by three channels, had issued the summons. The accountants of the Marathi channels Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema and those of a couple of advertising agencies were also summoned, the official said.

The summons to Sundaram said there were reasonable grounds to believe that he was “acquainted with certain facts and circumstances of the matter and the same are required to be ascertained”.

“However, he did not appear before the probe team. He informed the police that the channel had approached the Supreme Court and that there would be a hearing within a week. Citing this, he requested the police not to record his statement,” the official said.