The chargesheet in the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam case was filed on Tuesday, and Arnab Goswami, the Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV, is accused.
The 1800-page second additional chargesheet against Goswami and four people from ARG Outlier Media, which owns Republic TV, as defendants: COO Priya Mukherjee, Shivendu Mulelkar, and Shiva Sundaram, according to Live Law.
Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh implicated the channel as being complicit in the scam, prompting the filing of an FIR in the case nine months ago. On October 8, 2020, Singh announced that a TRP ring involving Republic TV, Box Cinema, and Fakt Marathi had been caught.
The broadcasters were allegedly manipulating TRPs by bribing Partho Dasgupta, the former CEO of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), to increase their audience. Last year, BARC filed a complaint with Hansa Research Group stating that certain TV networks were fixing TRP ratings, which led to the discovery of the TRP scam.
In connection with the investigation, the Mumbai Police have detained 13 persons, including the former BARC COO. Former officials of Hansa Research Group, proprietors of news stations, and one Republic Media employee, assistant vice-president (distribution) Ghanshyam Singh, have all been charged in the case. They’ve been charged with deception, criminal conspiracy, and evidence destruction.
