Mumbai Police’s crime branch on Wednesday, 21 October, stated that names of two more TV channels have surfaced during the investigation of television rating points (TRP) fraud, the Hindustan Times reported.
According to a report by PTI, one is a news channel, while the other one is an entertainment channel.
During the investigation, the involvement of these two channels came to the fore.
“While investigating the fake TRP racket, the police have added fresh sections of IPC, including 174, 179, 201, 204,” PTI reported.
The Quint had earlier reported that the Mumbai police is probing other TV channels in the case.
The Mumbai Police’s crime branch has been questioning the two former employees of the Hansa Research Group – Dinesh Vishwakarma and Ramji Varma, who were arrested on Tuesday, 20 October.
Inspector Sachin Vaze, who is a part of the investigating team, said that Vishwakarma and Varma told that they were working for a movie channel. Vishwakarma and Varma also revealed that they used to distribute money for TRP manipulation, reported the Hindustan Times.
A senior crime branch officer said that police has not added the names of two-channels in the FIR yet. He said that the enquiry is still being conducted, according to Hindustan Times.
The TRP Case
Earlier in October, the Mumbai Police had said that it has busted a "TRP scam", whereby Television Rating Points (TRPs) were being manipulated. In the briefing, Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh said that ratings by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), which measures television ratings in India, have been manipulated.
The police named Republic TV and two other Marathi channels who, it said, were involved in the practice.
On Wednesday, Republic TV’s Executive Editor Niranjan Narayanaswamy was summoned by the Mumbai Police in connection with the probe.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times and PTI)
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