In a recent development, a magistrate court in Mumbai has granted permission to the Mumbai Police to withdraw all prosecution related to the alleged TRP scam of 2020. This case had Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami as one of the accused. The decision to withdraw prosecution was made by the Maharashtra government, as reported by Livelaw.
The TRP scam came to light in 2020 when Mumbai Police received numerous complaints against various channels, including Republic TV, accusing them of inflating their ratings. The case was being handled by Param Bir Singh, who was the police commissioner of Mumbai at that time.
According to special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray, the investigators were hopeful that victims of the alleged TRP rigging would come forward to record statements. However, no individuals who felt cheated came forward. Additionally, witnesses provided contradictory statements. Based on these factors, the prosecution concluded that the case was unlikely to lead to conviction and would only waste judicial time and government resources.
The chargesheet for this case was filed in June 2021. However, in 2023, officials from the state home department re-examined the documents obtained from the Mumbai Police and identified several flaws in the investigation conducted by dismissed police officer Sachin Waze and his team. Waze was the head of the crime intelligence unit (CIU) that investigated the case. The probe was also marred by allegations of bribery demands, further complicating the situation.
The TRP scam case revolved around allegations that certain television channels manipulated TRP numbers. The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, claiming that these channels were rigging TRP ratings. In a supplementary charge-sheet, Arnab Goswami was named as an accused, along with former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta. The chargesheet alleged that Goswami, in collusion with Dasgupta, illegally tampered with TRP ratings, which are used to assess the popularity of television programs and viewers’ preferences. The prosecution cited Goswami’s purported WhatsApp chat with Dasgupta as crucial evidence against him.
With the withdrawal of prosecution, the TRP scam case involving Arnab Goswami takes a new turn. While this decision brings an end to the legal proceedings, it also raises questions about the integrity of the initial investigation and the allegations made against Goswami and others involved in the case.
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