No evidence against Arnab in TRP case chargesheet: Republic TV to HC

ARG Outlier Media,the companythat runs all Republic TV channels, has told the Bombay High Court that the Mumbai police's charge sheet in the fake TRPscam did not disclose any evidence against Republic TV and itseditor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, who is an accused in the case.

In a rejoinder affidavit filed on Tuesday in the highcourt to counter the police's charge sheet, the company saidthe police had ''falsely implicated'' its employees in the case.

It said the entire case against its channels andemployees arose out of an ''unparalleled political vendetta''and a ''deeply malicious witch hunt''.

The company also said its employees had been targetedfor the ''fearless news reporting'' done by the Republic TV onthe Maharashtra police's investigation into the case of actorSushant Singh Rajput's death and Palghar lynching incident oflast year.

Rajput was found hanging at his home in Mumbai'sBandra area in June last year.

The ARG Outlier Media in its affidavit said HansaResearch Group, the original complainant in the case, had notnamed the Republic TV or its employees in its complaints.

The company further said the Mumbai police's crimebranch too had not found any evidence against its channels oremployees, and yet, the police named its channels and theiremployees, including their top management, as accused andsuspects in its charge sheet.

''The charge sheet though voluminous in weight isnegligible in evidence against petitioners,'' the affidavitsaid, adding ''there is not a single shred of evidence ofwrongdoing in the charge sheet''.

The company has also alleged in the affidavit that thepolice harassed and physically tortured some of its employees,including Assistant Vice President Ghanshyam Singh.

It said Singh, CEO Vikas Khanchandani, and some otherswere pressurised to implicate the Republic TV and otheraccused persons in the case.

''It is a matter of public record that Mr Singh wasphysically and medically tortured in custody to falsely selfincriminate, and to falsely incriminate his organisation,'' theaffidavit said.

The company also said the purported WhatsApp chatsbetween Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta, the former CEO ofBroadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), were selectivelyleaked by the police to ''create prejudice''.

It also said in the affidavit that no actualstakeholders, be it advertisers, or media houses, which weresupposedly affected by the alleged fake TRP scam, had comeforward as complainants in the case.

The Mumbai police last month filed two affidavits inthe case through city Commissioner of Police Parambir Singh,and ACP Shashank Sandbhor of the crime branch, saying thepolice had not targeted the Republic TV or its employees.

The police said their probe was not a result of anypolitical vendetta.

A bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale ispresiding over a bunch of pleas filed by the ARG OutlierMedia, seeking, among other things, that no coercive action betaken against its employees and the probe be transferred fromthe Mumbai police to the CBI or any other independent agency.

The fake Television Rating Points (TRP) scam came tolight last year when the ratings agency BARC filed a complaintthrough the Hansa Research Group, alleging that certaintelevision channels were rigging TRP numbers.

TRP, measured by recording viewership data at samplehouseholds, is crucial for attracting advertisers.