MUMBAI: The Mumbai city criminal branch investigating the Television Rating Point (TRP) tampering scam on Tuesday arrested Ghanshyam Dilipkumar Singh (44), head of distribution for Republic TV, accused of paying a monthly sum to artificially increase the channel’s audience figures.
Singh, a resident of Ghodbunder Road in Thane, is the twelfth defendant to be arrested in the case. Singh, the vice president of the channel, has previously been questioned by the police. A metropolitan magistrate placed him in police custody until November 13.
The crime branch is investigating the role of music channels Republic TV, Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema, News Nation, Mahamovies and Wow to inflate audience figures, a key parameter that media buying houses consider when placing ads. The canals are accused of paying money to households (in those houses where barometers are installed to keep the canals on.
Singh is accused of paying monthly sums to Abhishek Kolawade of marketing company Max Media to display Republic Bharat’s inflated TRP, between January 2020 and July 2020, according to a refund request filed in court. Kolawade has also accepted money from Wow Music channel officials, the officials said.
Singh is the head of distribution for AGR Outlier Media Pvt Limited (the company that operates Republic TV) and is in contact with various officials from Multi System Operators (MSO) and Direct to Home (DTH) service providers, said the request from return. Police said they want to question him to find out more about the payments made.
Police further said that Kolawade also received Rs 15 lakhs per month from another defendant Ashish Choudhary for inflating the TRP of Republic TV channel, and also from hawala operators, according to the request for pretrial detention. Police are looking for hawala operators who could be witnesses in the case, according to the request for pretrial detention. Police said Singh also paid money to Choudhary, who in turn paid Kolawade, according to the app.
Kolawade then distributed the money to the other defendants, namely Ramji Verma, Dinesh Vishwakarma and Umesh Mishra, who in turn paid money to the families in whose homes barometers were installed and asked to keep the Republic TV on for a period. maximum.
Police had recovered Rs 11.72 lakhs from Kolawade’s home and Rs 2 lakhs from Choudhary’s Thane office during a recent raid.
To measure TRPs, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has installed barometers in the homes of selected audiences. BARC had awarded the barometer monitoring contract to Hansa Research.
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