Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami was arrested by Mumbai police last month in a separate case (Archive)
Mumbai:
Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami paid “lakhs” to senior officials at TV BARC’s rating agency, including former CEO Partho Dasgupta, to manipulate the channel’s TRP (television rating point), police alleged of Mumbai in a pretrial detention note filed Monday in magistrates court.
Police also claimed that Dasgupta, who was arrested last week, was the “mastermind” and manipulated audience numbers and data for financial gain. Police made the claims while requesting additional custody of the former CEO to determine if any more such payments were made.
The note alleged that Goswami paid Dasgupta and another senior BARC official, former COO Romil Ramgarhia, accused of “providing secret and confidential information to certain channels”, to manipulate the TRP of Republic’s English and Hindi channels. TV.
“Dasgupta abused his official position and manipulated TRP from specific news channels broadcast by ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd, such as Republic Bharat and Republic TV. Dasgupta, while serving as CEO of BARC, became involved in the conspiracy along with Arnab Goswami et al. “, The Mumbai Police Crimes Section said in its referral note, according to the PTI news agency.
The note alleged that Mr. Goswami had given Mr. Dasgupta money “from time to time,” and that the former CEO, who was in that position from June 2013 to November 2019, used that money to purchase items. expensive that were seized from his residence in Raigad. when he was arrested.
Police said further investigations were underway as they obtained custody of Mr. Dasgupta, the 15th person arrested in this case, as of Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Vikas Khanchandani, CEO of ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd (owner of the Republic Media network) was also arrested. Later he was released on bail. Republic TV head of distribution Ghanshyam Singh was arrested last month.
Goswami, who was arrested at his Mumbai home last month in a separate case and given bail last month, is also among those named in a charge sheet filed by Mumbai police.
Republic TV, which is one of the three channels investigated, has denied the allegations and accused the Mumbai police of revenge because it questioned investigations into the death of actor Sushant Rajput.
The case came in October after Nitin Deokar, an official with Hansa Research, an agency that placed meters that record audience data in sample homes, alleged the process was rigged.
In the investigation, the Mumbai police said Republic TV, which claims to have the highest ratings, was adjusting the ratings for high advertising rates by bribing homes where meters were installed. Police said they were paid between Rs 400-500 a month to keep certain channels on.
TRP, measured by recording audience data in sample households, is crucial for attracting advertisers and improving TV channel revenues.
With input from PTI
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