TRP case:Ex-BARC CEO directly involved,rigged entire system:HC told

Former Broadcast AudienceResearch Council (BARC) CEO Partho Dasgupta rigged the''entire'' TRP system for news channels and also discussedissues of national security with ''a certain owner cum newsanchor'' on Whatsapp, the Mumbai Police told the Bombay HighCourt on Monday.

Special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray told asingle-judge bench presided over by Justice PD Naik thatDasgupta was directly involved in manipulating TelevisionRating Points (TRPs) with the help of other accused persons.

Hiray, who was opposing Dasgupta's bail plea in theHC, said the crime branch of the Mumbai police had accessed,among other things, Dasgupta's WhatsApp chats with a ''certainowner and anchor of a TV channel'' where in he discussedmanipulating the TRPs.

Hiray said the two also discussed issues concerningnational security.

''They tried to manipulate the entire system of TRPs.

There are chats regarding the security of the nation,'' Hiraysaid.

The purported chats between Dasgupta and Republic TVeditor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, who is also an accused in theTRP scam case, on the 2019 Pulwama attack are a part of thechargesheet filed by the police in the case.

Justice Naik asked if any offence had been registeredwith regard to the Wahtsapp chat regarding the Pulwama attack,to which Hiray replied in negative.

Dasgupta's counsel, senior lawyer Abad Ponda, told theHC that the WhatsApp chats were merely ''loose talks''.

''Regarding Whatsapp chats, I will only say it is loosetalks. Those are not admissible and need corroborativeevidence,'' Ponda said.

He said Dasgupta's co-accused in the case were out onbail and that the Maharashtra government had made a statementbefore the HC earlier this month saying it will not take anycoercive action against Arnab Goswami or any other employeesof ARG Outlier media, which runs Republic TV channels.

''I am not saying to arrest them. But then the wholegroup under Republic TV is protected and I am behind bars,''Ponda told the HC on behalf of Dasgupta.

He also said that the chargesheet had already beenfiled in the case and Dasgupta's custodial interrogation wasnot required any more, and therefore, he be granted bail.

Objecting to the bail plea, Hiray said the statementmade by Maharashtra government counsel Kapil Sibal, protectingthe ARG employees, had been made with ''reluctance''.

Hiray said the TRP scam happened at three levels.

''The barometers for measurement were installed by BARCand Hansa. The viewers were paid monthly for watching theirchannels. The inevitable conclusion is that the informationwas leaked from BARC,'' he said.

Justice Naik then asked if Dasgupta was the one whohad leaked the information, to which Hiray said that seemed tobe ''the inevitable conclusion''.

''There is a full involvement (of Dasgupta). For a fewcrores he (Dasgupta) allowed the TRPs to be manipulated,'' hesaid.

Hiray further said the other accused who were grantedbail in the case were not as ''powerful' as Dasgupta is.

The HC will continue hearing the arguments on Tuesday.

PTI AYANSK NSK