Court closes TRP manipulation case

Court allows dropping of prosecution in TRP manipulation case involving Republic TV's Arnab Goswami as no evidence of wrongdoing found by TRAI, BARC or advertisers.

MUMBAI: The Esplanade metropolitan magistrate court on Wednesday allowed the state government’s plea to drop prosecution of all the accused, including Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami, in the Television Rating Point (TRP) manipulation case.

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“Our report to withdraw the case was accepted on Wednesday. No one has come forward saying that the offence has taken place. Neither the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) nor BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) or any advertisers have come forward saying they have been cheated or some crime has taken place,” said special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray.

When the court asked the prosecution if they had applied their mind to the withdrawal, he said, “We have applied our mind and felt that the case would not lead to conviction and would only waste the judiciary’s time and government’s efforts.”

On November 28, 2023, the state government had filed an application before the court for withdrawal of prosecution in the case, which had named Republic TV and R Bharat channels headed by Arnab Goswami. The plea was filed under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which enables a prosecutor to drop a prosecution.

In January, the court had issued summons to the first informant, Nitin Kashinath Deokar, a representative of the Hansa Research Group, seeking his reply on the plea filed by the state to withdraw prosecution. He did not object to the withdrawal of the prosecution.

In October 2020, the Kandivli police had registered the case after ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers. Republic channel and its executives along with other TV channels were named as accused in the case.

Based on the police case, the ED undertook a money laundering probe and in September 2022 cleared names of Republic TV and R Bharat news channels from the allegation of manipulating television rating points (TRP). The agency was, however, yet to conclude its probe against two other channels - News Nation and India Today.

In its prosecution complaint or charge-sheet filed in September 2022, ED has named 16 accused, which included directors of Box Cinema, Fakt Marathi and Maha Movies channels and several relationship managers (RMs) employed by Hansa Research Group, a contractor employed by BARC.

In the charge-sheet, the agency claimed that it has examined the role of Republic in detail and it became evident that the investigation done by the Mumbai police was “at variance with the investigation done by the ED”.