The Mumbai Police, which is investigating the alleged TRP (Television Rating Points) scam. The Mumbai Police say that ex-CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), Partho Dasgupta, misused his official position to manipulate the TRPs of certain TV channels.The police have also said that Partho helped Arnab Goswami CEO of Republic TV. Partho manipulated TRP ratings to make Republic TV the "No.1" channel. It also said Goswami paid Dasgupta to manipulate Republic TV's TRPs since its launch in 2017.

This case was going on in the High Court. Interestingly, Goswami's WhatsApp chats with Dasgupta were leaked by the Mumbai Police on the same day the Bombay High Court adjourned the hearing in the TRP scam case till January 29. Over 500 pages of their chats were leaked, which could be used as potential evidence in the case. Screenshots of their conversations have gone viral on social media. 

WhatsApp chats between Goswami and Dasgupta show that Arnab has strong contacts and relations with the Prime Minister's Office. In the chats Goswami spoke about how he tried to increase TRPs for his new channel. He even boasted about having strong contacts in the Central Government. The majority of the conversations date back to 2019, while there are some chats from 2017 as well. 

In one of the messages, where Goswami talks about meeting I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar regarding some help from the PMO, Dasgupta says, "He is useless." Advocate Prashant Bhushan tweeted screenshots of Goswami and Dasgupta's alleged WhatsApp conversations, saying,“This shows that Arnab has unlimited access to powerful leaders of India and he is using his contacts for his benefits. This is wrong. If this would have happened in any other country he would have been jailed.” The Mumbai Police also told the HC it wouldn't take any coercive action against the Republic TV chief till January 29.

Tags

• Arnab
• Goswami
• Partho
• Dasgupta
• TRP
• Scam
• Mumba

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