In what comes as a major revelation in the TRP scam, former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, Partho Dasgupta, has claimed that he got $12,000 from Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami for two separate holidays in return for manipulating ratings in favour of the news channel.
As per the handwritten statement in the supplementary chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police in the TRP scam case, Partho said that he received a total of Rs 40 lakh over three years from Goswami. The chargesheet was filed by Mumbai Police on January 11 and also includes a BARC forensic audit report, purported WhatsApp chats between Dasgupta and Goswami and statements of 59 persons.
“I have known Arnab Goswami since 2004. We used to work together in Times Now. I joined BARC as CEO in 2013. Arnab Goswami launched Republic in 2017. Even before launching Republic TV he would talk to me about plans for the launch and indirectly hint at helping him to get good ratings to his channel. Goswami knew very well that I know how the TRP system works. He also alluded to helping me out in the future,” reads the statement.
It adds, “I worked with my team to ensure manipulation of TRP ratings that made Republic TV get number 1 rating. This would have continued from 2017 to 2019. Towards this, in 2017 Arnab Goswami had personally met me at St Regis hotel, Lower Parel and given me 6000 dollars cash for my France and Switzerland family trip…also in 2019 Arnab Goswami had personally met me at St Regis and given me 6000 dollars for my Sweden and Denmark family trip. Also in 2017, Goswami had personally met me at ITC Parel hotel and given me Rs 20 lakh cash… also in 2018 and 2019… Goswami met me at ITC hotel Parel and gave me Rs 10 lakhs each time…”
However, Dasgupta's lawyer denied this allegation and claimed that the statement would have been recorded under duress.
Notably, the supplementary chargesheet mentions that Dasgupta’s statement was recorded in the office of the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) on December 27, 2020 in the presence of two witnesses.
The chargesheet also includes BARC’s audit report, which states that evidence “indicated favouritism shown to few channels” and “in some cases, we suspect that the ratings were pre-decided”. The report also names a few other news channels, including Times Now and Aaj Tak, and lists instances of alleged manipulation by BARC’s top executives.