News Analysis India

Tag: TRP Scam

  • TRP scam accused Maha Movie channel CEO Sanjay Verma held in copyright violation case

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Mumbai Police on Tuesday arrested Maha Movie television channel’s CEO Sanjay Verma in an alleged copyright violation case, a police official said.

    He is also a wanted accused in the alleged Television Rating Points (TRP) rigging scam.

    Verma was apprehended by the Mumbai Police’s Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), the official said.

    A case of copyright violation was registered at Juhu police station here and the investigation into it was transferred to the CIU, he said.

    During a probe into the case, Verma’s alleged role came to light, following which he was questioned by a team led by CIU in-charge assistant police inspector Sachin Waze and subsequently placed under arrest, the official said.

    During his interrogation, Verma told crime branch officials that Maha Movie channel had illegally broadcast movies such as “Zanjeer”, “Lawaris”, “Jadugar”, “Mohabbat Ke Dushman”, “Muqaddar Ka Sikandar” between June 10 to November 10, 2020, he said.

    Copyrights of these movies are with Punit Mehra’s company, who is the son of legendary film producer Prakash Mehra, the official said, adding that Mehra never sold those rights to any other company or individuals.

    Earlier, the crime branch had arrested Mohammed Bilal Shaikh alias Raju Khan (42) and Ghanshyam Giri (42) in the case, he said.

    The official said nine more persons are wanted in the case, including the proprietor of Zoya Films, a proprietor of Sonam music company, a proprietor of VIP Films, directors of Tele-One Consumers Pvt Ltd, DV Media Entertainment Ltd and Darvi Media Entertainment Ltd.

    Notably, in a charge sheet filed recently in the TRP rigging case, the police alleged that an official of Hansa Research Agency paid money to sample households to tune into Maha Movie, Box Cinema, Fakt Marathi and Republic TV channels.

    TRP, measured by recording viewership data at sample households, is crucial for attracting advertisers.

    The Republic TV and others have denied any wrongdoing.

  • Can Arnab be arrested under Official Secrets Act? Uddhav govt seeking legal opinion

    By Express News Service
    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has decided to seek legal opinion whether Republic TV owner and editor-in-chief can be charged under Official Secrets Act for his revelations about the Balakot airstrike three days in advance through his purported WhatsApp chat with BARC former-CEO Partho Dasgupta.

    Maharashtra Home minister Anil Deshmukh said they have taken a serious note of Arnab Goswami’s WhatsApp chat on the classified military information. “We have decided to seek the legal and senior officials’ opinion whether Arnab Goswami can be charged and arrested under the Official Secrets Act for sharing the classified military information.

    “We cannot comprise our security services. We have to find out with whom he had shared this information three days before the Balakot airstrike by the Indian Air force. Besides, we need to find out who had provided this crucial information and whether this information was limited to Arnab and Partho Dasgupta,” Deshmukh said.

    Deshmukh further said that the Mumbai Police is probing the TRP scam and as a part of that this the WhatsApp chat between Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta came out. “We will do whatever is possible as a state government in this case. The security of the state and nation is of utmost importance for us,” Deshmukh added.

    Earlier in the day, the Maharashtra Congress delegation met the Home minister Anil Deshmukh demanding the arrest of Arnab Goswami. Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that the WhatsApp chat between Goswami and Dasgupta has brought out some serious revelations. 

    “Arnab Goswami was aware of the Balakot airstrike three days before the incident. The conversation between Goswami and Dasgupta is being discussed in the mainstream and social media. Questions are raised about how Goswami got this highly confidential and sensitive information. This amounts to treason and Goswami should be arrested immediately,” demanded Sachin Sawant.

    The Congress leader further said that Arnab Goswami himself admitted that the source of his information was “a big person in the Modi government”. 

  • TRP scam: Uddhav government starts gathering information on chats between Arnab Goswami, ex-BARC CEO

    By PTI
    NASHIK: The Maharashtra government is gathering information about the leaked social media chats between Arnab Goswami and BARC ex-CEO Partho Dasgupta in which highly sensitive things like Balakot airstrike and Pulwama attack were mentioned, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has said, adding the issue will be discussed by the Cabinet on Tuesday.

    The purported chats widely reported in media mentioned that Goswami, the editor-in-chief of Republic TV, was privy to the Balakot air strikes.

    Speaking to reporters here on Monday night, Deshmukh said how Goswami came to know about such sensitive information is a big question.

    “We are gathering information about the leaked chats between Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta. Some highly sensitive things including the Balakot airstrike and the Pulwama attack have been mentioned in the chats. How Arnab came to know about such sensitive information is a big question,” Deshmukh said.

    He said the state Cabinet is scheduled to meet on Tuesday in Mumbai.

    “After the meeting, a decision about this issue will be taken,” Deshmukh said.

    ALSO READ | Bhupesh Baghel seeks SC-monitored probe in Arnab Goswami’s purported chats with ex-BARC chief

    Earlier in the day, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) asked the government to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the purported chats between Goswami and Dasgupta.

    Dasgupta, who was arrested in the fake Television Rating Point (TRP) case, is now in the ICU of state-run JJ hospital in central Mumbai.

    A diabetic, he was rushed to the hospital from the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai on Saturday after his blood sugar levels went up on Friday midnight.

    The Mumbai police had earlier told the court that Goswami had allegedly bribed Dasgupta with lakhs of rupees to ramp up Republic TV’s viewership.

    Meanwhile, the home minister attended a review meeting of the police department organised at the Maharashtra Police Academy (MPA) here.

    ALSO READ | National security issues reduced to ‘TRP tamasha’: Mehbooba attacks Arnab Goswami

    On the occasion, Deshmukh lauded the facilities available at the MPA and expressed satisfaction about the low crime rate in Nashik.

    Deshmukh hailed the successful initiative of Pratap Dighavkar, Special IG, Nashik Range, to give back the money of farmers duped by unscrupulous traders.

    “We will try to implement this measure at the state level,” the home minister said.

  • National security issues reduced to ‘TRP tamasha’: Mehbooba attacks Arnab Goswami

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: National security and issues of monumental importance have been “reduced to a TRP tamasha”, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti alleged on Monday.

    The PDP president was reacting to purported Whatsapp messages between editor of Republic TV Arnab Goswami and former CEO of BARC P D Dasgupta that were reportedly part of supplementary charge sheet filed by Mumbai police in the TRP scam case “Today we stand vindicated that it was done to benefit a particular party in the elections & not to avenge the martyrs of Pulwama attack,” she claimed, referring to Balakot airstrikes.

    “National security & issues of monumental importance have been reduced to a TRP tamasha that benefits BJP & creates false narratives. Masses are conditioned to believe fake news, hate imagined enemies within & outside the country. Nation wants to know who will pay the price for this?” Mehbooba said in another tweet.

  • Arnab’s WhatsApp chat shows leak of classified information, requires Parliamentary Committee probe, says NCP

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) demanded the forming of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the purported WhatsApp chats of Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami and BARC former CEO Partho Dasgupta where Arnab claimed to have the Balakot airstrike information three days in advance of the incident.

    Mumbai police have submitted the over 3000 pages charge-sheet and the purported WhatsApp chat that runs over 500 pages are part of this additional charge-sheet of TRP scam. In the WhatsApp chat, it was revealed that Arnab had information of Balakot airstrike three days in advance of the actual strike incident.

    ALSO READ: No coercive action against Arnab Goswami till January 29 in TRP case, says Mumbai Police

    Nawab Malik, NCP minister and a spokesperson said that Arnab Goswami has got the classified military information and he has subsequently shared with BARC former CEO Partho Dasgupta. “This is a very serious matter and concerned with national security. We will take up this matter to parliament and demand the setting up the JPC. We need to probe whether this classified information of Balakot airstrike by Indian Air Force is only shared with Dasgupta or anyone else who is spies and enemy of India. Besides, who is the person in government who shared this confidential information with Arnab Goswami,” Malik said.

    Malik further said that Goswami has committed a very serious crime that is against the interest of the nation. The Congress also demanded the probe in this incident.

    ALSO READ: WhatsApp delays new privacy policy by three months amid severe criticism

    Maharashtra Congress leader and former CM Prithviraj Chavan tweeted that the Government of India must launch a thorough probe. “Also the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence must take this matter with utmost priority. #ArnabGate. The voluminous transcript of Mr Goswami’s chats released by Mumbai Police is deeply disturbing. Who gave access to such sensitive information from national security to constitutional amendments and political appointments? #ArnabGate,” said Chavan.

    Meanwhile, the Maharashtra BJP distanced from the leaked In the WhatsApp chat. Chandrakant Patil said that the BJP and its leaders have nothing to do with the leaked what’s app chat of the Arnab Goswami.

    “Someone is saying or claiming something that does not mean it is true. And, we should not also believe it also,” Patil said.

  • TRP scam: Condition of ex-CEO of BARC Partho Dasgupta stable, say doctors

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The health condition of Partho Dasgupta, a former CEO of TV ratings agency BARC who was arrested in the Television Rating Points (TRP) rigging case, is stable but he is still in the ICU of JJ Hospital here, a senior official said on Sunday.

    Dasgupta, 55, a diabetic, was rushed to the state-run hospital in central Mumbai from the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai in the early hours of Saturday after his blood sugar levels shot up, a prison official had said, adding that he was put on oxygen support.

    “Dasgupta was admitted to the ICU of the hospital after his blood sugar level shot up. He is still in the same department but is stable. A team of physicians is monitoring his health,” JJ Hospital superintendent Dr Sanjay Surase said on Sunday.

    Dasgupta was arrested in the alleged TRP rigging scam by crime branch of the Mumbai Police on December 24 last year.

    A Mumbai court had earlier this month rejected his bail plea, stating that he appeared to have played a vital role in the scam to rig TRP as per the police’s case.

    The Mumbai Police had earlier told the court that Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami had allegedly bribed Dasgupta with “lakhs of rupees” to ramp up the news channel’s viewership numbers fraudulently.

  • TRP scam: Ex-CEO of BARC hospitalised

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Former CEO of ratings agency BARC, Partho Dasgupta, who was arrestedin the alleged fake Television Ratings Point (TRP) case, has been admitted in the ICU of state-run JJ hospital in central Mumbai, an official said on Saturday.

    Dasgupta, a diabetic, was rushed to the hospital from the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai in the early hours of Saturday after his blood sugar levels went up on Friday midnight.

    Dasgupta was admitted to the ICU of JJ hospital and is on Oxygen support, he said.

    Dasgupta was arrested in the alleged TRP rigging scam by crime branch of the Mumbai Police on December 24 last year.

    A Mumbai court had earlier this month rejected the bail plea of Dasgupta, stating that he played a vital role in the scam.

    The Mumbai Police had earlier told the court that Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami had allegedly bribed Dasgupta with “lakhs of rupees” to ramp up the news channels viewership.

  • Call for high-level probe in TRP scam

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Congress on Friday demanded a high-level probe into the purported WhatsApp chats between Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami and BARC ex-CEO Parth Dasgupta. These chats formed a part of the 3,400-page additional chargesheet submitted by the Mumbai police on Monday last, but surfaced in the public domain on Friday.

    Speaking to TNIE, Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that the chats between Goswami and Dasgupta clearly showed that government machinery was used to suppress the TRP scam.“When Mumbai police were probing the scam, several shocking details had emerged.

    However, to suppress the probe, a separate case was registered in Uttar Pradesh and later it was handed to the Enforcement Directorate. This was nothing, but an attempt to control the probe, where the role of BJP leaders was exposed,” Sawant said.

    Sawant said that the TRP and government system were rigged to misguide people and exploit advertisers. “Arnab repeatedly claims that he is close to PMO, AS, and Union ministers. The BJP should clarify who this AS is,” Sawant demanded.

    Republic TV counsel wants ed involvementIn the Bombay HC, Republic TV counsel Harish Salve argued that the TRP scam probe should be handed over to the ED. However, senior advocate Kapil Sibal opposed it claiming ED had no locus 

  • TRP case: No interim bail for former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A sessions court in Mumbai on Monday refused to grant interim bail to Partho Dasgupta, former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) and an accused in the TRP manipulation case.

    The court will hear arguments in the case to decide on Dasgupta’s bail plea on January 15.

    In his plea seeking bail, Dasgupta told the court he was 55 years of age, and a diabetic, and that he suffered from other medical ailments.

    He also said the allegations against him were based on “conjecture”.

    His counsel Shardul Singh told sessions court Judge MA Bhosale that no offence of cheating, as alleged by the prosecution, was made out against Dasgupta.

    He also said since a charge sheet and a supplementary charge sheet had already been filed in the case, Dasgupta deserved to be let out on bail, adding that several of the co-accused in the case had already been granted bail.

    Special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray, however, told court the police had filed a voluminous supplementary charge sheet on Monday of over 5,000 pages, and that he would need time to go through it.

    Singh then said Dasgupta must be granted interim bail since the supplementary charge sheet too had been filed, but HIray opposed the argument and said the court must not grant interim bail to Dasgupta without hearing the prosecution’s arguments.

    Judge Bhosale said he was not inclined to grant bail without hearing all parties.

    The TRP scam came to light in October last year when BARC filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, one of BARC’s vendors on engagement with panel homes, alleging that some channels were rigging television rating points.