On Saturday, a court granted bail to Republic TV’s western region distribution chief Ghanshyam Singh, arrested last month in the alleged TRP (Television Rating Points) manipulation scam.
Singh, who is also an assistant vice president of the Republic Media Network, had been arrested on November 10.
The session court also granted bail to Vishal Bhandari, a former employee of the Hansa Investigation Agency, who had been arrested on October 8 in the case.
The order was approved by Judge DS Deshmukh.
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Police began investigating the alleged scam after the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) rating agency filed a complaint through Hansa about manipulation of TRP by some channels.
BARC has contracted with Hansa to install and maintain barometers that record television audience data in sample homes on which TRP is based. Channel ad revenue is dependent on TRP numbers.
It was alleged that some of these families were being bribed to tune in to certain channels and increase their PRT.
In a charge sheet filed last week, police alleged that Bhandari, who was a relationship manager with Hansa, paid money to sample homes to tune in to Box Cinema, Fakt Marathi, Maha Movie and Republic TV.
Republic TV had denied wrongdoing.
Police have arrested a total of 12 people in the case so far.
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