Aaliya Productions managing director Sohaib Ilyasi, while confirming the differences between Zee and his company, accused Zee Telefilms of violating the terms of the agreement. Aaliya Productions has stopped providing fresh episodes after the airing of the 66th episodes on Zee. The channel has been airing re-runs of the programme since then.

He said the agreement stipulated that Zee would not involve any other party or produce a similar programme in-house till the completion of all 104 episodes of the serial.

"However, since the last six months Zee's endeavour has been to find a back up," he added. "This reflects that the programme has been a commercial success," Ilyasi said.

The Tuesday time slot of IMW has already gone to a new serial Agni Chakra, which is being produced by Vinta Mehta.IMW is being aired by Zee on Wednesdays.

Sources said Zee Telefilms is reluctant to give in to Ilyasi's demand of a revised price which is four times the existing price being paid per episode as well as his demand for a security cover.

Ilyasi's programme is currently fetching him over Rs 3 lakh per episode. Zee management feels that there are several media personalities covering crime-based stories and not all of them are getting extra protection from their organisations, sources added.

Ilyasi, however, ruled out such allegations and said that budget is not an issue at all between him and Zee.

"However, we are very unhappy with the kind of editorial interference we have to face while working with Zee," he said.

On the subject of extra security cover, Ilyasi said that it was not unreasonable to expect protection for producer of programmes like IMW. He said that Zee seems to be more attached to the programmes rather than the makers of the programmes.

Ilyasi was tight-lipped regardingwhether he is planning to shift to another channel while, the market rumours are that IMW is shifting to Sony. He said that so far he has not talked to anybody but would keep his options open.

When contacted, Zee Telefilms spokesperson said that there has been no editorial interference from the management's side. Zee does not interfere with the creative freedom of any artist and on the contrary, Zee respects and salutes creativity of artists and producers including IMW, the spokesperson said.

"Moreover, Zee, being the first satellite channel, has always been the forum for inviting fresh talent and giving new producers a platform," the spokesperson stated. It has been Zee's history to promote producers and the younger talent, she said.

Zee's programming policy has been time-tested which is evident from the fact that several producers have stuck with the channel almost since its inception, she said. As per the commercial terms Zee honours all its commitments to business and commerce and thedealings with the producer are always as per the commercial terms and agreement, she added.

Zee continues to retain property rights and copyrights of prgrammes on the channel. "As an organisation Zee would not succumb to blackmail by anyone," the spokesperson said.