TRP Scam: 14-Day Judicial Custody for Ex-CEO BARC Partho Dasgupta
Mumbai Police had alleged that Dasgupta had rigged the TRPs of Republic TV and its Hindi arm.
A Mumbai court on Wednesday, 30 December, placed Partho Dasgupta in 14-day judicial custody, reported PTI.
Dasgupta is the former CEO of rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) who has been accused and arrested in the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam.
Dasgupta has also filed a bail application before the court after his police custody ended.
Kamlesh Ghumre, Dasgupta’s lawyer argued that while he was CEO of the BARC, there was a hierarchically superior board of directors and a disciplinary committee.
The lawyer said Dasgupta was not the "whole and sole of the BARC," PTI quoted, adding that he could not have manipulated the rating system.
The court is scheduled to hear the bail plea on 1 January 2021.
WHAT IS DASGUPTA ACCUSED OF?
The Mumbai Police on Monday had informed a local court that Partho Dasgupta along with another ex-senior BARC official and Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami had manipulated the television rating points (TRP) of Republic TV and its Hindi arm.
In the police’s remand note submitted before a magistrate's court, the authorities claimed that all three accused had manipulated TRPs for profits, and that Goswami had provided “payment in lakhs” to Dasgupta.
(With inputs from PTI)
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