A metropolitan magistrate court on Wednesday granted bail to Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani arrested in connection with its probe into the alleged Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation scam.
Khanchandani was arrested on Sunday and was remanded to judicial custody on Tuesday, after which a bail plea was moved by his lawyers. The plea was allowed on Wednesday afternoon.
During the Crime Branch’s probe, it was revealed that some cable operators had used dual LCN (Landing Channel Number) technology which allowed viewing of one channel on two channel numbers at a time.
The Republic TV officials also contacted cable operators to fix LCN and LCN promotion. Khanchandani knew everything as he was part of Republic’s internal WhatsApp group where discussions about LCN and Promotion LCN discussions to boost Republic TV’s TRPs took place, police officials said.
The police discovered about the discussions on company’s WhatsApp group after investigators seized cell phone of company’s chief operating officer Priya Mukherjee (also part of the WhatsApp group), who has secured anti-cipatory bail in the matter. Besides, Mukherjee worked under Khanchandani.
The fake TRP scam came to light in October when ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers.
{{/usCountry}}The fake TRP scam came to light in October when ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers.
{{/usCountry}}Hansa is one of BARC’s vendors on engagement with panel homes or people’s meters. TRP, measured by recording viewership data at sample households, is crucial for attracting advertisers.
As per the police, some of these households were being bribed to tune into Republic TV and a few other channels. Republic TV had, in the past, denied any wrongdoing.