TRP Ratings Scam: CBI Registers Case to Probe Alleged Fraud Based on Complaint Filed in Uttar Pradesh
New Delhi, October 20: Days after the Mumbai Police removed the lid over what prima facie emerged as a "TRP ratings scam", the Central Bureau of Investigation has also launched a probe into the case of alleged fraud. The CBI began an inquiry into the matter based on a complaint it received from Uttar Pradesh, reports said on Tuesday. BARC Temporarily Suspend News Channels’ Ratings for 3 Months Amid TRP Controversy.
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The CBI probe into the case comes amid an ongoing investigation by the Mumbai Police. Three television news channels are under the latter's radar, including the Republic TV headed by broadcast journalist Arnab Goswami.
Notably, Goswami had filed a plea before the Supreme Court this month, seeking a CBI inquiry into the TRP case. He has accused the Mumbai Police of being biased against his channel, allegedly due to its critical reportage of the state government in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.
The apex court had dismissed the plea, stating that the channel must first approach the Bombay High Court. "You have already filed petition in high court. Entertaining this petition without high court sends message that we don't have faith in high courts," the three-judge SC bench had remarked.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, who brought the case out in the public through an explosive press conference, said former employees of Hansa, the ratings agency whose data is used by the BARC, shared confidential information with the three news channels.
The police chief claimed that around 2,000 households which are part of the survey to ascertain the television viewing trends, were targeted by the scamsters. Several households were paid a bribe to keep certain TV channels on, in order to influence the ratings, Singh said.
