Mumbai: ‘Accused conspired with BARC officials to rig TRPs’

Mumbai: The accused in the TRP case “conspired with the arrested BARC officials to rig the TRPs of their channel,” the crime branch press release on the second supplementary chargesheet stated.

While the first chargsheet had mentioned 15 accused, the second supplementary chargesheet, over 1,912 pages long, has enlisted seven more persons as accused. This case was probed by the crime intelligence unit (CIU) headed by assistant police inspector Sachin Waze and Riyazuddin Kazi, both arrested in the planting of gelatin sticks in a vehicle near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and the subsequent murder of vehicle owner Mansukh Hiran.

The case was registered on October 6 last year after the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) lodged a complaint that certain TV channels were rigging TRPs through illegal means.