When Arnab Goswami made a return to TV from a prolonged period of absence, little did the Republic TV founder know that he would find himself being named as an accused in the fake TRP scam by the Mumbai Police.
The Mumbai Police named Arnab as an accused in its second chargesheet filed before a court here on Tuesday.
The chargesheet, according to news agency PTI, was submitted before a magistrate’s court by the Mumbai Police’s Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) probing the case.
Confirming the news, Arnab’s lawyer said, “Among others, Goswami and ARG Outlier have been named as accused in the chargesheet.” According to the Livelaw website, four others from ARG Outlier Media (the company that owns Republic TV) in their 1800 page supplementary charge sheet submitted in the Esplanade Metropolitan Magistrate Court.
The alleged fake TRP scam came to light in October last year when the rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group (HRG), alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers.
The Mumbai Police had earlier arrested several top-ranking Republic TV officials including Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani.
In October, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh had sensationally revealed said that his force had busted a scam to manipulate TRPs by some TV channels including Republic TV. Singh had said that bank accounts of the three TV channels including that of Republic TV will come under scrutiny and seized if the allegations of fraud are established.
Singh had told reporters in an extraordinary press conference, “As I said, owners of two channels, Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema, have been arrested. Now our investigation shows that there are chances of people working at Republic TV, the channel’s directors and promoters involved (in the TRP racket). The future investigation is being carried out against Republic TV employees, directors and its directors.”
Goswami had threatened to sue Singh seeking damages worth Rs. 200 crore.
The latest development comes just hours after Arnab returned to TV and announced that he was battling COVID for several weeks and had to be hospitalised.