The war between the Maharashtra State Government and Republic TV has turned ugly as the Mumbai Police have claimed that they have busted a fake TRP scam. Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh on Thursday said that the Mumbai Police have identified three channels, namely Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema, and Republic-TV which are reportedly involved in distorting the apparatus used by BARC to rate television channels.
Addressing a press conference, Param Bir Singh said that the TRP is calculated on the basis of TV channel viewership in a confidential set of households. Accused would bribe these households and ask them to run some channels continuously even if they were not home. The BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) releases weekly rating points for TV channels in India and its own officials are also being questioned in connection with the case.
Mumbai Police Commissioner said that in Mumbai there are 2,000 barometers installed to monitor TRPs. BARC has given confidential contracts to an agency called 'Hansa' for monitoring these barometers. . Two people were arrested, produced in court and the Mumbai Police have got their custody. One accused has been arrested with Rs 20 lakhs while Rs 8.5 lakhs has been found in a bank locker, Commissioner Param Bir Singh said.
"The owners of Marathi channels Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema have been arrested. Arrests were made under sections 409 and 420 of IPC," added Param Bir Singh.
On Republic TV, the Mumbai Police Commissioner said, "BARC has submitted that Republic TV is a suspect in TRP manipulation. Police received the data of these households from BARC, the rating agency. We suspect that if this was happening in Mumbai then it could be happening in other parts of the country as well, he added. The complaint was filed by Hansa Research against some of their ex-employees who could have misused the data on the households where the TRP monitoring systems are installed. Some current employees could also be involved and some insiders could be involved. It's cheating (breach of trust) complaint turned into FIR.
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Hinting at Arnab Goswami's arrest, Param Bir Singh went on to say that, "Promoters and directors of Republic TV will be summoned and questioned. Summons will be sent to Republic officials, including Director Arnab Goswami on Thursday and they will be asked to appear before the investigating team."
Param Bir Singh also said that the Mumbai Police have shared the probe findings with the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry.
Interestingly, a hearing is already going in the Supreme Court of India on PIL filed by Arnab Goswami against the 'breach of privilege motion'. Ever since Sushant's case has come int limelight the Republic media has locked horns with the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and openly called out his name many times.