Partho Dasgupta s Statement Says Arnab Goswami Bribed Him, No Evidentiary Value Says Lawyer
The former BARC chief s handwritten statement to the Mumbai police says that Goswami paid him $12,000 and over Rs 40 lakh to rig viewership ratings of Republic TV.
Former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta. Photo: LinkedIn
Media25/Jan/2021
New Delhi: The former chief executive of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), Partho Dasgupta, has alleged in a handwritten statement to the Mumbai Police that Arnab Goswami bribed him to manipulate viewership ratings in favour of his channel Republic TV, according to an
BARC is responsible for measuring the television rating points (TRPs) of channels.
Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd, India s top newspaper publisher and television channel owner, on Monday said it is mulling legal action against BARC over its alleged role in the manipulation of TV ratings. In a statement, BCCL said it is contemplating legal action against Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) over alleged fraud in declaring rival Republic TV as leading in the English News Genre ahead of the group s Times Now news channel. BARC s Forensic Audit of July 2020, as well as the multiple emails and WhatsApp chats of that period, which has been accessed by Mumbai Police, clearly shows that BCCL s Times Now s TRPs were indeed manually reduced by BARC officials.
Arnab Goswami s Republic TV was one of the main beneficiaries of the television ratings point (TRP) scam, which was unearthed by the Mumbai Police last year.
TRP Scam: Arnab Goswami Bribed BARC CEO? Jan 25, 2021, 13:22 IST
Maharashtra: The former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, Partho Dasgupta, has claimed in a handwritten statement to Mumbai Police that he allegedly received US$12,000 from Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami for two separate holidays and a total of Rs 40 lakhs over three years, in return for manipulating ratings in favor of the news channel, according to the supplementary charge sheet filed in the TRP scam case.
The Mumbai police filed a 3600-page supplementary charge sheet on January 11 against Dasgupta, former COO of BARC Romil Ramgarhia, and Republic Media Network CEO Vikas Khanchandani for alleged manipulation of channel ratings. In this charge sheet, the police have also used screenshots of the WhatsApp conversations between Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami and former CEO of BARC. The most surprising thing in the meantime is, in this conversation, Arnab Goswami has offered t