Mumbai cops seek withdrawal of 'fake' TRP case involving Arnab Goswami

The alleged scam came to light in October 2020 when ratings agency the BARC filed a complaint alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers

Mumbai Police's crime branch on Tuesday filed an application in a local court seeking to withdraw the alleged fake TRP case in which senior television journalist Arnab Goswami has been named as an accused.

The alleged scam came to light in October 2020 when ratings agency the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP (Television Ration Point) numbers.

In a supplementary charge-sheet, police named Goswami as an accused in the case alleging that Goswami in connivance with former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta, a co-accused, illegally tampered with the TRP- a tool to judge which programmes are watched the most and to index the viewers' choices.

The chargesheet cited Goswami's alleged acceptance of his WhatsApp chat with Dasgupta as crucial evidence to indict him in the case.

On Tuesday, the prosecution filed an application before a magistrate court to withdraw the case.

The plea was moved under section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which enables the public prosecutor or the assistant public prosecutor to withdraw from the prosecution of any person either generally or in respect of any one or more of the offences for which he is tried.

The court will hear the plea on December 28.

The crime branch had arrested more than 12 persons, including Republic TV's distribution head and owners of two other channels, in connection with the case.

The accused are currently out on bail.

Based on the FIR registered by the Mumbai Police, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also filed a money laundering complaint in the alleged TRP rigging scam.

However, the ED, in a charge-sheet filed in September last year, claimed that no evidence was found against Republic TV in the alleged scam.

The Mumbai Police's probe in this respect was "at variance with the ED's investigation, the federal agency had said in the charge-sheet.