[TRP Scam] Fakt Marathi, Republic TV, Box Cinema among those channels that benefited: Mumbai Police in chargesheet

The Mumbai Police has filed its first chargesheet in the FIR no. 843 of 2020 which concerns the alleged fake Television Rating Points (TRP) scam brought to light by their Crime Branch. The chargesheet was filed before the Court of the Metropolitan Magistrate at Esplanade, Mumbai..The chargesheet has been filed for the commission of offences under Sections 406, 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) 465, 468 (forgery), 201, 204 (disappearance or destruction of evidence), 212 (harbouring offender) and 120B (conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code..The Crime Branch initiated the investigation in the TRP scam after they discovered, through certain employees of the Hansa Group, that ‘sampling metering services’ were being manipulated by paying people to watch particular TV channels..A rise in TRPs was, thereby, allegedly achieved by paying money to the television viewers whose houses had barometers installed..The viewers watched the specified channels for longer hours to show an escalated viewership of the channel, it is alleged..The chargesheet states that VV Bhandari (Accused no. 1), VR Tripathi (Accused no 5), UM Mishra (Accused no. 6), RD Varma (Accused no. 7) and DK Pattanshetty (Accused no. 8), all former employees of Hansa Research, were in charge of the installation and maintenance of the barometers in the individual households. They had also signed non-disclosure agreement with their employer company..The chargesheet alleges that Bhandari, along with BN Mistry (Accused no. 2), conspired with TV channels by illegally accepting money from channels to create a fraudulent rise in TRPs..Apart from the former employees of Hansa Research, the Mumbai Police have enlisted the following people as accused in the TRP scam unearthed by them.SS Pattanshetty, co-promoter of Fakt Marathi (Accused no. 3)NN Sharma, from Box Cinema (Accused no. 4)HK Patil (Accused no. 9)AB Kolvade, owner of Media Advertising and Distribution (Accused no. 10)AA Chaudhary, owner of Crystal Broadcast Pvt. Ltd. (Accused no. 11)Ghanshyam Singh, Asst. Vice President (distribution) of ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd. (Accused no. 12)Owner of Mahamovie (Wanted accused).The chargesheet specifically states that although the Republic channels are 'Free to Air' and its viewers do not have to pay remuneration to watch these channels, the channels tampered their viewership numbers in order to procure more revenue from the advertisements on their channel..The Crime Branch states that it has found evidence that the TRP scam has benefited the channels like Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema, Republic TV (English and Hindi channel), Mahamovie, and WOW TV..The Crime Branch has sought leave from the Court to issue of summons to the accused and witnesses named in the chargesheet. The chargesheet has cited approximate 140 persons and witnesses..However, they clarified that the investigation is still ongoing and a supplementary chargesheet may be filed in due course of time.