Mumbai police on Thursday claimed to have busted a Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation racket, adding two persons have been arrested in this case and said that Republic TV and two other TV channels are currently being probed.
TRP is a tool to judge which TV programmes are viewed the most and also indicates the viewers' choice and popularity of a particular channel.
The investigation so far reveals Republic TV, and two Marathi channels Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema were involved in TRP manipulation and have manipulated the sampling metering services by paying users periodically to watch particular TV channels.
The Detection Crime Branch of Mumbai police, which unearthed the TRP racket, has arrested owners of two Marathi channels, for manipulating viewership ratings, the official said.
Republic TV is also involved in the TRP racket and persons responsible for this will also be arrested, whether one is director, promoter or any other employee of the channel, the police commissioner said.
After the news broke out on social media, several Twitter users took to the micro-blogging site to take hilarious jibes at Republic TV's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami. However, a section of Twitter also called out Mumbai Police for 'focusing more on fake TRPs than crimes'.
Here's how Tweeple reacted to the fake TRP racket:
