Mumbai, January 17: On January 11, Mumbai Police filed a chargesheet in the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam case which contained 200 pages of WhatsApp conversations between Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), Partho Dasgupta.The chats show their alleged proximity with Goswami more than once offering to mediate on Dasgupta’s behalf with the political leadership, including the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The chats also show Goswami claiming “All the ministers are with us” at one point.
The chats are highly suggestive of a bid by top BARC executives to manipulate ratings in favour of Republic TV and the Hindi Channel Republic Bharat. The screenshots also show the executives making suggestions to Republic TV on strategies to boost ratings.In addition to these, the chats also show that Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani was in constant communication with former BARC’s Chief Operating Officer Romil Ramgarhia. While Dasgupta is still in custody of the Mumbai Police, Ramgarhia and Khanchandani are out on bail.
Private chats of Arnab Goswami goes viral