BackSanjay Raut on TRP fixing: No vindictive action by Mumbai police in busting scam
Scam worth ₹30,000 crore has happened and why are people quiet? Who is behind all this? Where has the money come from, asked the Shiv Sena leader
PremiumDismissing the allegation that Mumbai cops acted in a vindictive manner in busting the Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation racket, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Friday said, "Mumbai police took a courageous step to unravel this scam. This is just a beginning...everything will be unravelled soon."
Speaking on the matter further, Raut added, "Scam worth ₹30,000 crore has happened and why are people quiet? Who is behind all this? Where has the money come from."
"The Mumbai police force is professional. No action was taken by them out of revenge or vindictiveness. But the manner in which channels functioned targeting the MVA government and the Thackeray family, isn't it vindictiveness?" the Shiv Sena leader asked.
All you need to know about the TRP scam
On Thursday, Param Bir Singh, Commissioner of Mumbai police said that it busted a racket to manipulate TRP ratings and said that Republic TV is among three channels being probed for the alleged fraud.
The households were reportedly paid around ₹400 to 500 on a monthly basis to watch Republic TV, the police commissioner added. The alleged scam results in miscalculated target audience for advertisers, the police stated.
Owners of two other channels were arrested, Singh said that news anchor Arnab Goswami and the editor-in-chief of Republic TV will soon be questioned in the case of TRP fixing.
Param Bir Singh also said that the findings will further be shared with the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
TRP, a tool to judge which television programmes are viewed mostly, indicates the viewers' choice and popularity of a particular TV channel.
Reportedly, the ratings of Republic TV channel had shot up exponentially, which raised suspicions of a foul play. Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) -- the body that gives rating points to TV channels in the country -- suspected Republic TV of manipulating the system.
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