E-Paper
TRP scam: Mumbai court rejects bail plea of ex-BARC CEO
The crime branch alleged that Partho Dasgupta had misused his official position and manipulated TRPs of certain news channels to benefit Republic TV and R Bharat channels
A Mumbai sessions court on Wednesday rejected the bail application of Partho Dasgupta, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), who has been arrested by the Mumbai crime branch in the television rating points (TRP) manipulation case.
Dasgupta had approached the sessions court for bail soon after the magistrate court turned down his plea observing that further investigation required that he be kept away from other accused persons and material witnesses.
Dasgupta was arrested on December 24, 2020 by the crime branch.
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The crime branch alleged that Dasgupta had misused his official position and manipulated TRPs of certain news channels to benefit Republic TV and R Bharat channels, owned by ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd. It claimed that Dasgupta was the key accused in the TRP manipulation case.
The crime branch also alleged that he was in continuous touch with Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.
The agency claimed that Goswami had approached Dasgupta to manipulate TRPs of some news channels. It is alleged that the duo met around six times over the issue. The prosecution cited evidence in the form of WhatsApp chats to prove the allegations against Dasgupta.
