MUMBAI: Wire & Wireless India Ltd (WWIL) CEO Jagjit Singh Kohli and COO Major General (Retd.) CL Anand were arrested and released on bail today for allegedly not encrypting the digital signals of pay channels under the conditional access system (Cas) regulations.

The case was registered under the jurisdiction of MM Joshi Marg police station in Mumbai and investigated by the social service branch.

Confirming his arrest and subsequent release on bail, Kohli said: "I am surprised that the police have taken such an action against the seniormost executives of the company for a frivolous and unfounded technical complaint. We are fully complying with the provisions of the Cable Act as well as the Cas regulation."

Multi-system operators (MSOs) operating in the Cas areas are required to encrypt signals so that subscribers can only view and pay for the channels they select.

A source in the cable TV trade says WWIL had not encrypted signals in the past but corrective action has been taken. After the introduction of Cas in the notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, some cable operators took time to encrypt signals.