A Mumbai court while rejecting the bail plea of Partho Dasgupta, former CEO, BARC, has said that he was the mastermind of the whole TRP manipulation case. Rejecting Dasgupta’s plea, Mumbai sessions court stated that he was acting in his capacity of CEO to manipulate television ratings through mechanical device. He was also in contact with the channel owner, the court added.
Additional Sessions Judge MA Bhosale in his ruling that Dasgupta appeared to be the “mastermind of the entire crime”.
Dasgupta was arrested by the Mumbai Police on December 24 after they found his name in a WhatsApp group that was operating the TRP scam. He was reportedly in direct contact with Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami for the manipulation of TRPs. While Dasgupta’s bail plea was rejected on January 20, a detail order into the case was provided on February 2.
Referring to WhatsApp chats between Dasgupta and Goswami, the court has stated that the matter demands for a thorough probe.
“The evidentiary value of whats up (WhatsApp) chat will be tested at the time of trial. However, Investigating Officer getting much more information from the whats up chat subsequently (sic)”, the Mumbai Sessions Court order said.
“…it appears from the papers putforth before me that it is not the case of simple manipulation of TRP but more than that however, before forming any opinion regarding whats up chats, I am of the opinion that through out investigation is required to be necessary (sic),” it further said.
Meanwhile, 14 accused in the case have been released on bail. The BARC CEO’s lawyer Arjun Thakur had contended on January 20 that all the accused in the case have been granted bail. Hence, the rule of parity should be applied and Dasgupta should also be given bail.
Rejecting his argument, the court had said, “It is true that 14 accused have been granted bail by the learned additional chief metropolitan magistrate, but the case paper in the present crime reflects that the accused (Dasgupta) is the mastermind of the entire scam and was acting in his capacity as CEO to manipulate the television ratings through mechanical devices.”