Mumbai: Mumbai police claimed Thursday to have busted a Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation racket. They said two persons have been arrested in this case. TRP is a tool to judge which TV programmes is viewed the most and also indicates the viewers’ choice and popularity of a particular channel.
Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh told reporters that a national TV news channel was also involved in the TRP racket. The TV channel is facing flak over its attack on Mumbai police and Maharashtra government in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.
“The arrested accused are owners of ‘Fakt Marathi’ and ‘Box Cinema’ channels. Republic TV’s directors and promoters are yet to be probed. We will be calling some of the employees of the Republic TV channels for inquiry as they allegedly involved in the racket,” Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh told reporters.
The Detection Crime Branch of Mumbai police have unearthed the TRP racket,” said other officials.
“If investigation probe proves that Republic TV is also involved in the TRP racket and then the persons responsible will also be arrested. It will not matter whether it is the director, promoter or any other employee of the channel, the police commissioner said.
Bank accounts of these channels are also being probed and people responsible for the TRP racket are being summoned by police for further investigation in the case, stated Singh.
The police swung into action after a complaint was filed by rating agency Hansa Services Private Limited. It is a contractor of BARC, which functions under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).