MUMBAI POLICE NAMES ARNAB GOSWAMI AS ACCUSED IN THE TRP SCAM CASE

The Mumbai Police named Arnab Goswami the editor-in-chief of Republic TV and four others include COO Priya Mukherjee, Shiva Sundaram and Shivendu Mulelkar, as accused in the Television Rating Points Scam (TRP Scam), nine months after the filing of FIR in the case and Ex Mumbai commissioner - Param Bir Singh named the channel as being involved in the scam.

The Mumbai Police submitted an 1800 page supplementary charge sheet before the Esplanade Metropolitan Magistrate Court. So far, the Mumbai Police had charged approx 15 people in the case, including Republic TVs CEO Vikash Khanchandani and former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) Partho Dasgupta.

BACKGROUND

On 6th October 2021, an FIR was registered u/s 34, 120B, 409 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code after a few individuals complained that barometers had been installed in their houses in order to increase the TRP of the channel. The Police claimed that the channel paid intermediaries which measure TRPs on behalf of BARC.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal