The Mumbai crime branch investigating the alleged Television Rating Points (TRP) rigging case has filed a chargesheet in the Mumbai court on Tuesday. The chargesheet was filed much before the prescribed time limit. Mumbai police had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that filled the 1400-page chargesheet in Esplanade court against the 12 accused.
Mumbai police has clarified that this is not the end of investigation. They will continue with their investigation. Further developments and arrests made in the case will be filed in the form of a supplementary chargesheet. Tuesday's development comes a day prior to the scheduled hearing on the transferring of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday. Few days ago, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a money laundering case based on the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the city police in the first week of October.
The 1,400-page chargesheet includes statements of 140 people, which includes the statements of household, advertisers, forensic experts, forensic auditors and officials of Broadcast Audiences Research Council (BARC), amongst others. Forensic audits of TV channels were also attached in the chargesheet. We will soon be filing a supplementary chargesheet of around 2000 pages that will contain forensic and technical evidence, including chat logs, e-mails and extracts of phones and laptops of the accused, added the officer close to the investigation.
The SIT has so far arrested 12 persons in connection with the case and alleged that several channels, including Republic TV and Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema and few others have been indulged in the alleged malpractices. So far, they have arrested the assistant vice president and distribution head of Republic TV along with the owners of Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema channels and several ex-relationship managers of a market research company.
The Mumbai police, in its chargesheet, said that they have found evidence that Ghanshyam Singh, assistant vice president and distribution head of Republic TV, was allegedly paying the accused to manipulate the TRP of the channels. The police have also found several chats of the accused, which are highly incriminating and suspicious in nature. His chats are also part of the chargesheet, added the officer. They have also found direct evidence against his superiors and that is a part of the chargesheet, added the officer.
They also said, in the chargesheet, that they have found evidence linking the accused involved in dual LCN technology, where the same channel has been telecasted on two different numbers. And the cable operators who were involved in the same had received notices by TRAI.
Recently, a team from Mumbai police went to Bangalore for Republic TV COO Priyanka Mukharjee. However, they could not trace her, said an officer. Mumbai police has issued over 10 notices and summons to Mukharjee to appear before them. Twice she had appeared before the city police.
Meanwhile, Mukharjee has approached the Karnataka High Court, seeking anticipatory bail in the case that is kept for hearing on Wednesday. In the first week of October, an FIR was registered at Kandivali police station on the complaint of Hansa Research Group, a market research company, which alleged that TRPs of certain channels had been manipulated. The company has been
hired by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to maintain and fetch viewership data from bar-o-meters installed at homes.
According to the police, the ex-relationship managers of Hansa were paid to rig the TRPs, manipulating the sampling metering services by inducing the bar-o-meter users to watch particular TV channels and paying them periodically. The households were paid Rs 400 to Rs 500 monthly to watch a particular channel. There are 2,000 bar-o-meters installed in Mumbai to monitor TRPs. BARC has installed approximately 30,000 bar-o-meters in various parts of India, which monitor various programmes. Based on the statistical metrics, it awards ratings to various television channels. Based on these ratings, advertisers pay to advertise. Manipulated TRPs result in miscalculated targeted audiences for advertisers.
