A charge sheet filed by the Mumbai police in the TRP scam allegedly revealed a WhatsApp chat between Republic TV’s owner Arnab Goswami and former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta.
Now, according to the supplementary charge sheet filed in this case, Dasgupta has claimed in a handwritten statement that he received US$12,000 from Goswami for two separate holidays. According to reports, he also conveyed that Rs 40 lakh was paid to him over three years for manipulating ratings in Republic TV’s favour.
According to Indian Express, Dasgupta’s statement read,
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.
The Mumbai Police filed a 3,600 page charge sheet on January 11. This includes a BARC forensic audit report, WhatsApp chats between Dasgupta and Goswami and statements of 59 people including cable operators and formers employees.