On Mangalam TV’s launch day, the Kerala news channel broadcast a telephone audio clip in which Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran was allegedly heard making sexually explicit remarks to a woman whom the channel described as a housewife. Saseendran resigned the same day, after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had inaugurated the channel. The broadcast became a major media scandal because the channel initially presented the recording as evidence of misconduct rather than disclosing how it had been obtained.
After denying that it was part of a smear campaign, CEO Ajith Kumar apologized and admitted that the recording came from a sting operation conducted by a female journalist employed by Mangalam TV. On 4 April, Kerala Police arrested Kumar and four other channel employees on allegations involving the broadcast of an obscene conversation and criminal conspiracy. Saseendran was later acquitted after the complainant, who had previously alleged sexual harassment, turned hostile in court, and he returned as transport minister. Mangalam TV subsequently suffered financial troubles, ceased operations by the end of 2022, and had its studio and equipment confiscated by South Indian Bank in early 2023.
