A Mumbai court has granted permission to the crime branch of the Mumbai police to withdraw the case related to the alleged fake Television Rating Points (TRP) scam of 2020, in which Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami is an accused. Metropolitan Magistrate LS Padhen of Esplanade court permitted the withdrawal of the FIR no. 843 of 2020, with the prosecution stating that continuing the criminal proceedings might not lead to conviction and would only waste the court’s valuable time.
Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray informed the court that no one, including the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), or advertisers, had come forward to claim they were cheated or a crime had taken place. Hiray cited conflicting evidence in reports submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had cleared Republic TV and R Bharat of manipulating TRP numbers.
The TRP scam case originated in 2020 when the crime branch discovered manipulation of ‘sampling metering services’ by employees of Hansa Research Group. The investigation led to the arrest of individuals who confessed to receiving money to watch specific TV channels, even keeping their TV sets switched on to a particular channel for increased TRP. The BARC, under the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, measured TRPs using barometers.
The Crime Branch filed a chargesheet in November 2020, implicating Republic TV channels in benefiting from the scam and tampering with viewership numbers for increased revenue. Arnab Goswami was charged in June 2021. The recent decision to withdraw the case was based on a government decision considering various factors, including contradictions in the Mumbai police probe. The court allowed the withdrawal, and a detailed order is awaited.
