[TRP Scam] ED chargesheet says no evidence against Republic TV; probe against India Today yet to conclude

In the chargesheet filed before a Mumbai Court, the Enforcement Directorate has claimed that no evidence was found against Republic TV in the alleged fake Television Rating Points scam (TRP scam) brought to light by the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police..The agency cleared Republic TV and R Bharat of the charges of manipulating TRP numbers in the case. The ED also said that it has not concluded its investigation against two other news channels - News Nation and India Today..ED filed its prosecution complaint before a Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on September 15, 2022. Special judge MG Deshpande took cognizance of the chargesheet on Wednesday.The central agency arraigned 16 accused in the chargesheet including directors of Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema and Maha Movies, relationship managers (RMs) associated with Hansa Research Group and contractor employed by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)..The chargesheet by ED came tobe filed after they had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in November 2020. The ECIR was filed on the basis of First Information Report (FIR) no. 843 of 2020 of the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police The Crime Branch filed a chargesheet in November 2020 which indicated that Republic TV channels had benefitted from the scam and had tampered their viewership numbers to procure more revenue.However, it was not until June 2021, that the Crime Branch chargesheeted Arnab Goswami, the Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV as an accused in the case..On the contrary, ED chargesheet stated that it did not come across any evidence either through statements or digital evidence that Republic TV or Republic Bharat had indulged in practices of manipulating TRPs.The agency claimed that the investigation carried out by Mumbai Police seemed to be at variance with the probe conducted by ED.ED claimed that the forensic audit report relied upon by the Mumbai police was superficial and based on analysis of limited aspect.As per Mumbai Police chargesheet, the RMs had claimed that they had paid panel households to watch channels; however, the ED found no money trail to corroborate those claims.ED sought raw data from BARC on the panel households who were allegedly watching Republic channels. That data showed that the households watched channels other than Republic, and the households also denied having taken any money..While Republic channels were cleared of the charges, ED found leads from certain households which claimed to have watched India Today and News Nation in return of cash from RMs.The agency submitted that investigation in that regard was in progress..The chargesheet acknowledged that there was a wider conspiracy between channel viewers, agents and RMs to influence/induce the panel households to watch certain channels for monetary gains and the malice seemed deeper as was indicated by FIRs lodged by BARC in various States.