MUMBAI: A magistrates court here on Friday referred Partho dasgupta, former CEO of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) rating agency, in police custody until Dec. 28 in the alleged bogus TRP scam.
Dasgupta was arrested by the Mumbai Criminal Branch of the Pune District on Thursday and presented in court on Friday.
Police requested his pre-trial detention for further investigation, saying that his custody questioning was necessary to understand his role in the scam.
Dasgupta’s lawyer, Kamlesh Ghumre, argued that the crimes of fraud and breach of trust for which he has been accused were not committed against him.
The investigation was harassment and a use of pressure tactics by the police, the lawyer alleged.
After hearing from both parties, the court sent the defendant into the custody of the criminal branch until December 28.
Dasgupta is the fifteenth person arrested in the case related to an alleged TV Rating Points (TRP) fraud by some television stations.
On Thursday, the court had granted bail to another defendant in the case, Ramil Ramgarhia, a former director of operations for BARC.
The investigation had ended and therefore his arrest was not necessary, the court observed.
Most of the defendants in the case are now out on bail.
The Mumbai police launched the investigation after BARC, a rating agency, filed a complaint of TRP tampering through some channels.
TRP, measured by recording audience data in sample households, is crucial as it helps television channels attract advertisers. It was alleged that some of these households were being bribed to tune in to certain channels and increase their ratings.
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