Have Evidence Against Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami in TRP case, Mumbai Police Informs Bombay High Court

Mumbai, January 6, 2020: Mumbai Police today submitted to the Bombay High Court that it had found some evidence against Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami in the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam. However, after the High Court adjourned the hearing without hearing any arguments, the Mumbai Police agreed to continue its earlier assurance of not taking any punitive action till the next date of hearing, January 15.

The alleged fake TRP case came to light last year when the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) lodged a complaint that some television channels were manipulating TRP numbers to generate more revenue from advertising. On Wednesday, the court adjourned the case without hearing any arguments, as Republic TV lawyer Harish Salve could not appear.

Mumbai Police lawyer Kapil Sibal agreed to avoid any action against the accused till the next hearing. Citing the adjournment of the hearing, Sibal said, “We (Mumbai Police) have found evidence during the investigation in the BARC case against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami. We (police) agree on the reason for this emergency (not to take punitive action against the accused).”

Sibal also told the court that the police would submit a status report of its investigation into the case during the next hearing.

Sibal also told the High Court that the police would also submit a status report of the investigation at the next hearing. On December 16, Sibal had told the court that no action would be taken against Goswami and other employees of ARG Outlier Media (AOM), the company operating Republic TV, till January 6. The AOM had approached the High Court last year seeking an injunction restraining the police from taking punitive action against its employees.