No charge-sheet in TRP tampering case

Bengaluru: Several television news channels were accused of tampering with television rating points (TRPs) by the Mumbai police on Thursday. The police claimed they busted a TRP manipulation racket following a probe initiated after a complaint by TV viewership measurement agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

It's been two years since the Bengaluru city's cybercrime police cracked down on a network of tampering television rating points (TRP). Raising several eyebrows, no charge-sheet has been filed till date.

In 2018, Bengaluru city cybercrime wing cracked the network of TRF tampering team and arrested Raju who was popularly known as TRP Raju and four of his followers. According to the police sources, the accused got out on bail because there was no charge-sheet submitted by the department.

Also police officers, who were in the investigation team have been transferred to different places and the new team has no interest to re-investigate the issue. Television rating points are used to measure viewership for programmes and channels, and help advertisers decide where to advertise their products.

Reacting to the issue, senior police officials said, "This case is completely dependent on the technology and the police department needs to collect more information to prove that the accused were involved in the tampering of TRP. So, our team is working on it and will update the case in a few days."

According to the reports, police investigation revealed that some Kannada small screen serial producers and directors were involved in the TRP tampering. Some were even interrogated by the police. As the day went on, the investigation of the case was halted.