The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Partho Dasgupta, former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council(BARC) in a case pertaining to the alleged manipulation of Target Rating Points(TRPs). Partho was arrested on December 24, 2020 on charges of doing undue favours to Republic TV during his term as BARC CEO. He had been lodged in the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.
The bail has been granted after a bond of Rs 2 lakh was furnished and under conditions that Partho should visit the Crime Branch office in Mumbai on every first Saturday for the next six months. Partho’s legal team had asked for bail on medical grounds. After a Mumbai court denied bail, he then approached the Bombay HC, seeking bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Arguing for bail for Partho, his counsel said that the WhatsApp conversation between him and Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami cannot be treated as evidence as it was just ‘loose talk’ between two private individuals. He also claimed that Partho had just been ‘negligent’ while BARC COO Romil Ramgarhia was directly involved in TRP manipulation. Bail given to Romil was used as the basis for seeking the same for Partho.
On 8 October, 2020, the Mumbai police held a press conference alleging that the TRPs of news channels were being manipulated. The Mumbai Police Commissioner named Republic TV and alleged that the Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami had bribed Partho to favour Republic TV by rigging the TRP ratings. In the same case Arnab was also arrested and later released on bail.
Partho’s wife Samrajni Dasgupta had written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) alleging that he was being tortured by Mumbai Police in their custody. “He was without any pillow or sheet either on the bed or to cover him. He told us that he has not been given anything to eat since Jan 15th. All he could tell us was that he was mercilessly beaten up even in Taloja Jail,” she wrote in the complaint,” she had written in her complaint copy.