Arnab Goswami Bribed me to Manipulate TRP: Partho Dasgupta
Mumbai, 25/1: In an interesting turn of event, the former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, Partho Dasgupta has claimed that he was given $12,000 and a total of 40 lakh rupees over a period of three years to manipulate ratings in favour of Republic Tv. Reportedly Arnab Goswami is the Editor-in-Chief of the channel.
The handwritten statement by Partho Dasgupta in the supplementary charge sheet filed by the Mumbai Police in the TRP scam case reads that Arnab had bribed Partho of Rs 40 lakh over three years to manipulate tv ratings in favour of his news channel.
“I have known Arnab Goswami since 2004. We used to work together in Times Now. I joined BARC as CEO in 2013. Arnab Goswami launched Republic in 2017. Even before launching Republic TV he would talk to me about plans for the launch and indirectly hint at helping him to get good ratings to his channel. Goswami knew very well that I know how the TRP system works. He also alluded to helping me out in the future,” the statement reads.
“I worked with my team to ensure manipulation of TRP ratings that made Republic TV get number 1 rating. This would have continued from 2017 to 2019. Towards this, in 2017 Arnab Goswami had personally met me at St Regis hotel, Lower Parel and given me 6000 dollars cash for my France and Switzerland family trip…also in 2019 Arnab Goswami had personally met me at St Regis and given me 6000 dollars for my Sweden and Denmark family trip. Also in 2017, Goswami had personally met me at ITC Parel hotel and given me Rs 20 lakh cash… also in 2018 and 2019… Goswami met me at ITC hotel Parel and gave me Rs 10 lakhs each time…” it added.
The charge sheet was filed by Mumbai Police on January 11 and also includes a BARC forensic audit report, purported WhatsApp chats between Dasgupta and Goswami and statements of 59 persons.
Partho Dasgupta’s lawyer Arjun Singh, denied the allegations and said, “We totally deny this allegation as the statement would have been recorded under duress. It does not have any evidentiary value in the court of law.”
The charge sheet also includes BARC’s audit report, which states that evidence “indicated favouritism shown to few channels” and “in some cases, we suspect that the ratings were pre-decided”. The report also names a few other news channels, including Times Now and Aaj Tak, and lists instances of alleged manipulation by BARC’s top executives.
