In yet another development in the forged television rating points (TRP) case, Republic TV's distribution head has now been detained in Mumbai for his alleged involvement in manipulating the ratings of the show of the news channel and its programs that are most watched.
The accused has been identified as Ghanshyam Singh, who heads distribution in the channel run by now arrested founder and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, is the 12th accused to taken in by the Mumbai Police in connection with the TRP scam case.
Arnab, however, has been arrested for another case from his Mumbai home last week after the police said they had found new evidence against him in abetment to a suicide case of 2018.
On November 10, Mumbai police will produce Ghanshyam Singh before the court.
According to the police sources, when a few viewers of the channel were asked about channel viewership they admitted that they were paid to keep Republic TV on even when they were not watching. During the preliminary investigation in the case, two local channels-Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema were also found to be manipulating the viewership.
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The TRP scam case came into light during a wider analysis of manipulation of news trends and how a false narrative was being spread in connection to the investigation into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
On the flip side, the Republic TV has strongly denied the allegations and accused Mumbai Police of a vendetta because the channel had questioned the police investigation into Sushant Singh Rajput's death.
According to the police, they received a complaint in early October from Hansa Research, a company appointed by the Broadcast Audience Research Council or BARC, which installs "people meters" to track viewership. The company had said some former employees had shared details of the households being tracked and helped rig ratings.