Crime Branch charge sheet says viewership details were rigged to show Republic TV as No. 1, produces WhatsApp chats between ex-BARC head and Arnab
Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and Former BARC head Partho Dasgupta
The Mumbai Crime Branch filed a supplementary charge sheet in the TRP manipulation scam on Tuesday, showing Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV, as an accused. WhatsApp messages between the TV anchor and Partho Dasgupta, former head of industry body BARC, are part of the 1,912-page document. It says viewership numbers were manipulated to help Goswami’s channel gain the number one spot.
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The accused in the supplementary charge sheet are Arnab Goswami, Priya Mukherjee, Shivendu Muledhkar and Shiva Sundaram from ARG Outlier Media that owns Republic TV and Sanjay Verma and Amit Dave from Maha Movie channel. So far, 22 people have been made accused in this case.
The Crime Branch recorded Goswami’s statement through email after sending him 68 questions concerning alleged rigging of Television Rating Points (TRP). The Crime Branch has confirmed that several WhatsApp chats recovered from Partho Dasgupta’s mobile were between him and Goswami.
The journalist has been shown as accused number 19 in the charge sheet.
Citing the chats, the Crime Branch has said that Dasgupta, accused number 15, who was the CEO of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), had shared viewership data with Goswami. The charge sheet says the two talked about benefitting the channel.
During its investigation, the Crime Branch found that Times Now was number one before Republic, but Goswami’s channel was brought to the top position by rigging its TRP and downgrading the viewership figures of Times Now, causing the latter to suffer a loss.
In their statement to the police, Times Now officials said their channel lost Rs 431 crore due to the scam.
With the help of multi state operators, Republic TV was pushed to the number one slot. The charge sheet also contains statements of seven cable operators from across Maharashtra.
Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hire said, “Today, a 1912-page supplementary charge sheet has been filed in the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in the TRP case. In this, a total of seven people including Arnab Goswami have been named. In this case, we have got technical evidence which includes WhatsApp chats.”
The TRP scam started unravelling after the Mumbai police received a complaint on October 6, 2020. As per the complaint, barometers were installed in the houses of some persons to count the TRP and they were bribed to increase the viewership of the Republic TV.
22
Total number of accused in the case so far
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