TRP case: Ex-BARC CEO directly involved; rigged entire system, high court told | India News – Times of India

MUMBAI: Former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) CEO Partho Dasgupta rigged the “entire” TRP system for information channels and in addition mentioned points of nationwide safety with “a certain owner cum news anchor” on WhatsApp, the Mumbai Police told the Bombay High Court on Monday.
Special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray told a single-choose bench presided over by Justice PD Naik that Dasgupta was directly concerned in manipulating Television Rating Points (TRPs) with the assistance of different accused individuals.
Hiray, who was opposing Dasgupta’s bail plea within the HC, stated the crime department of the Mumbai police had accessed, amongst different issues, Dasgupta’s WhatsApp chats with a “certain owner and anchor of a TV channel” the place in he mentioned manipulating the TRPs.
Hiray stated the 2 additionally mentioned points regarding nationwide safety.
“They tried to manipulate the entire system of TRPs. There are chats regarding the security of the nation,” Hiray stated.
The purported chats between Dasgupta and Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, who can be an accused within the TRP rip-off case, on the 2019 Pulwama assault are an element of the chargesheet filed by the police within the case.
Justice Naik requested if any offence had been registered with regard to the WhatsApp chat concerning the Pulwama assault, to which Hiray replied in detrimental.
Dasgupta’s counsel, senior lawyer Abad Ponda, told the HC that the WhatsApp chats have been merely “loose talks”.
“Regarding WhatsApp chats, I will only say it is loose talks. Those are not admissible and need corroborative evidence,” Ponda stated.
He stated Dasgupta’s co-accused within the case have been out on bail and that the Maharashtra authorities had made a press release earlier than the HC earlier this month saying it won’t take any coercive motion in opposition to Arnab Goswami or another workers of ARG Outlier media, which runs Republic TV channels.
“I am not saying to arrest them. But then the whole group under Republic TV is protected and I am behind bars,” Ponda told the HC on behalf of Dasgupta.
He additionally stated that the chargesheet had already been filed within the case and Dasgupta’s custodial interrogation was not required any extra, and subsequently, he be granted bail.
Objecting to the bail plea, Hiray stated the assertion made by Maharashtra authorities counsel Kapil Sibal, defending the ARG workers, had been made with “reluctance”.
Hiray stated the TRP rip-off occurred at three ranges.
“The barometers for measurement were installed by BARC and Hansa. The viewers were paid monthly for watching their channels. The inevitable conclusion is that the information was leaked from BARC,” he stated.
Justice Naik then requested if Dasgupta was the one who had leaked the data, to which Hiray stated that appeared to be “the inevitable conclusion”.
“There is a full involvement (of Dasgupta). For a few crores he (Dasgupta) allowed the TRPs to be manipulated,” he stated.
Hiray additional stated the opposite accused who have been granted bail within the case weren’t as “highly effective’ as Dasgupta is.
The HC will proceed listening to the arguments on Tuesday.