India Today Was Named In Police Compliant Over TRP Fraud And Not Republic TV: Report

In a new revelation in the "TRP Fraud" case which was highlighted by Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, news channel India Today and not Republic TV was named in the police complaint by Hansa Research.

As per a report by Republic TV, which contains the purported copy of the FIR, states that following an investigation by a sub-inspector an arrested individual named Vishal had informed that, "to increase the TRP of India Today and several other channels he used to instigate and offer money to panel home where BAR-o-Metre (was) installed with the help of several other people".

The complaint adds that Vishal had received a call in December 2019 from a man named Vinay who asked him to approach five panel homes in Mumbai to ask them to watch India Today for five hours.

The channel Republic TV has reportedly not been named in the said complaint document.

In response, India Today has posted a quote attributed to Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh in which he claims that:

There is only one FIR (Dated Oct 6)...In the FIR India Today was named by one of the witnesses...But as the probe progressed neither BARC nor any of the witnesses or accused named India Today. They all named Republic TV, Marathi Channels. Therefore as of now there is no evidence against India Today...We are proceeding against Republic TV and Marathi Channels...