Republic TV had refuted Param Bir Singh’s claim that the channel had manipulated TRPs (File)
Bombay:
Mumbai police on Tuesday issued a summons to the editor of Republic TV and a reporter working with the channel in connection with the Television Rating Point (TRP) fake racket, an official said.
Niranjan Narayanaswamy, editor-in-chief – News and journalist Abhishek Kapoor were summoned by the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) at noon on Wednesday, he said.
On October 10, Republic TV aired a document that allegedly belonged to Hansa Research Group and >, says the summons.
The CIU on Tuesday recorded the statements of Pravin Nizar and Nitin Deokar of the Hansa agency.
The Crime Service’s special investigation team also visited the BARC office and inquired with some officials, including its science and technology officer, the police official said.
Vinay Tripathi, arrested by the CIU in the case, was taken to the city in pretrial detention and four other defendants arrested earlier in the case were taken into custody until October 16, he said. .
The bogus TRP scam came to light when the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) rating agency filed a complaint through the Hansa Research Group, alleging that some TV stations were manipulating TRP numbers.
Hansa is one of BARC’s suppliers on engagement with panel houses or people counters.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh last week claimed that Republic TV and two Marathi channels – Box Cinema and Fakt Marathi – had manipulated TRP.
Republic TV has refuted Param Bir Singh’s claims.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
