A Mumbai court has rejected the bail of former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), Partho Dasgupta in the TRP manipulation case.
The court while rejecting Dasgupta’s bail plea observed that there was more to the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam than just ‘manipulation of TRPs’.
Additional Sessions Judge of Mumbai Court MA Bhosale said that Dasgupta appeared to be the “mastermind of the entire crime”, Times Now reported.
Dasgupta was arrested by the Mumbai Police on December 24 for allegedly manipulating TRPs in collusion with Republic TV founder and news anchor Arnab Goswami.
Dasgupta’s bail plea was rejected by the Sessions Court on January 20, but the detailed order was made available only on February 2.
Need thorough investigation, says court citing the WhatsApp chats between Dasgupta and Goswami – the Mumbai Sessions Court observed that a thorough investigation was needed in the case.
“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.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Bombay High Court adjourned the hearing on the bail plea of Dasgupta for February 9.
The Ex-CEO of BARC had approached Bombay High Court after the lower courts rejected his bail plea.