Arnab Goswami had paid former BARC CEO to rig TRPs: Police

Mumbai: The Mumbai Police on Monday claimed that Partho Dasgupta, the former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), was allegedly paid “lakhs of rupees on several occasions” by Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami to increase the channel’s ratings. The claims were made in a remand application filed in court, seeking an extension of Dasgupta’s police custody.A magistrate’s court on Monday extended Dasgupta’s police custody by two days till Wednesday.Dasgupta was arrested on December 24 and sent to police custody till December 28.The Mumbai Police had sought seven more days of custody as they wanted to take Dasgupta to the BARC office to find out how the manipulation of TRPs was effected.“Dasgupta as BARC CEO had illegally manipulated and increased the TRP ratings of Republic TV channel and in this connection Arnab Goswami had paid him lakhs of rupees on different occasions for the same,” the police claimed in its remand application.The police further claimed its investigation had revealed that Dasgupta had allegedly “purchased jewellery” from the money paid to him, which the cops claimed to have recovered from his home.

The former BARC CEO has been accused of being the ‘mastermind’ of the TRP scam, wherein ratings of news channels such as Times Now and CNN News18 were allegedly decreased and that of Republic TV increased.There was no response till press time to an email sent by ET to Goswami.The police, in its remand application on Monday, sought extension of Dasgupta’s custody saying that the BARC office was shut for three days for Christmas. The cops said they needed to take the former CEO to the BARC office to understand how ‘Meta Rule’ – a method to measure TRP – was manipulated to increase and decrease the TRP ratings of channels.The police also sought to confiscate laptops used by Dasgupta when he was the CEO of BARC, and also check his emails. They also wanted more time for “detailed questioning” of Dasgupta in connection with the 44-week period during which ratings of Republic TV were allegedly increased while those of other news channels were brought down.Dasgupta’s lawyer Kamlesh Ghumre argued that the ‘confession’ of Dasgupta, where he allegedly claimed to have received money from Arnab Goswami, was obtained through “coercion”. “In police custody, anybody can threaten and take such a statement,” he told ET.“No one knows about the so-called report of the agency that has done the third-party audit, which the Mumbai Police has cited to claim that TRP ratings of news channels were manipulated,” Ghumre told the court on Monday.