MUMBAI: The chargesheet filed by the police in the TRP scam on Tuesday stated that Republic TV was a free-to-air channel and Ghanshyam Singh, its distribution head, allegedly connived with the other arrested accused and made payments to them to increase TRPs.
Singh would formalise agreements with the other accused after discussing terms and conditions and rates. He was also required to monitor if these operators fulfilled the terms of the agreement, the police said in the chargesheet.
The city police had on October 6 registered a case in the TRP manipulation racket and have been investigating Republic TV, Fakt Marathi, Mahamovies, News Nation, Box Cinema and Wow music channels for rigging TRPs. India Today has been given a clean chit by the police, though one of the suspects had alleged that that channel had also rigged viewership figures.
To measure TRPs, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) had contracted Hansa Research to install barometers in the homes of select audiences to gauge viewing patterns. Hansa Research is the complainant in the case.
ACP Shashank Sanbhor and assistant inspector Sachin Waze submitted the chargesheet comprising 1,400 pages before the 37th Esplanade Metropolitan Magistrate court on Tuesday. The chargesheet has been filed against 12 accused, which includes former employees of Hansa Research and the owners of Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema. It contains statements of 140 witnesses, of which eight had deposed before the magistrate and have given confessional statements under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which are admissible as evidence during trial.
Mumbai police filing the chargesheet within the stipulated period of 60 days assumes significance in the wake of the Enforcement Directorate conducting a parallel probe into the money laundering angle under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The police probe has revealed that confidential information on the locations of metered television sets was leaked and viewers were paid to keep their sets tuned to specific channels.
The chargesheet has been filed under Indian Penal Code sections of cheating, forgery, breach of trust, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. Police said that the investigation into the acts of some of the owners and directors of the channels under scanner is continuing.
The crime branch has summoned the proprietor of Wow Music channel, Jayanti Gada and Akshay Gada, to join the investigation on Wednesday.