TRP Scam: Mumbai Police Summon Republic TV CFO, Two Advertising Agencies' Chiefs For Questioning

Tightening the screws in the alleged fudged Television Rating Points (TRP) data scam, the Mumbai Police have summoned the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Republic TV and two heads of major advertising agencies for questioning on Saturday (10 October), officials said in Mumbai on Friday.

Republic TV CFO Shiva Sundaram and heads of two prominent advertising agencies have been asked to report at the Crime Branch office at 11:00am on Saturday to record their statements.

The development came a day after the Mumbai Police sent the country’s television industry in a tizzy by unearthing a suspected mega scam of fraudulent Television Rating Point (TRP) estimated to be worth over Rs 30,000 crore.

The police have named Republic TV, India Today TV, Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema among the accused after its discreet investigation conducted in the past few days.

Hitting out at the police probe, Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami has denied all the allegations, claiming a witch-hunt against his channel for questioning the police and the Maharashtra government. He also threatened to file a criminal defamation case against Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

While at least two persons have been arrested in connection with the case so far, the police teams are probing the involvement of more people connected to the TV industry and the ad world who are suspected to be involved in the TRP fraud with an eye on a bigger piece of the advertising revenue cake.

(With inputs from IANS)