Mumbai police on Thursday arrested the former Chief Operating Officer of the rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), Romil Ramgarhia in connection to the Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation scam. Few channels have been named in the TRP rigging scam.
This is the 14th arrest in the case. Earlier on Sunday, Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani was arrested who later got bail on Wednesday.
“During the probe, Ramgarhia’s alleged involvement in the case came to light, following which he was placed under arrest today. He would be produced before a local court,” said the Mumbai police.
Romil Ramgarhia quit as BARC India COO in July 2020 stating, “Knowing nothing about measurement company; from single digit to 400+ people organization.”
The police has initiated a probe into the alleged scam of manipulating the TRP after BARC filed a complaint through Hansa research agency. TRP is being measured by recording viewership data at sample households and is crucial for attracting advertisers.
BARC engaged Hansa to install and maintain barometers which records TV viewership data at sample households. It is alleged that few channels have bribed some households to tune into their channels in order to boost their TRP.
In a recently filed chargesheet, it is submitted that an official from Hansa had paid that bribe money to the households to tune into the channels including Box Cinema, Fakt Marathi, Maha Movie and Republic TV.
