Arnab Goswami gave me 40 lakh rupees, claims Ex-BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta

Ex- Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) CEO Partho Dasgupta, arrested in the TRP scam, claimed in a handwritten statement to the Mumbai Police that Arnab Goswami gave him four million rupees in three years for TRP ratings in favor of his channel and gave him US $ 12,000 to spend the holidays.

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According to Indian Express newspaper , the additional charge sheet of 3600 pages has been filed against Dasgupta, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) Romil Ramgarhia and Vikas Khanchandani, CEO of Republic Media Network. Earlier in November 2020, the charge sheet was filed by the police, in which 12 people were named.

The charge sheet contains BARC's forensic audit report, alleged WhatsApp chats between Dasgupta and Goswami and statements of 59 people. It also contains statements of former council employee and cable operator.

There are names of many news channels in this audit report including Republic, Times Now, Aaj Tak etc. Also, there are occasions when ratings were pre-fixed and allegedly tampered by BARC officials.

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Dasgupta wrote in his statement, "I have known Arnab Goswami since 2004. We used to work together in Times Now. I took over as CEO of BARC in 2013. Arnab Goswami launched Republic TV in 2017. Even before launching Republic TV, he used to discuss with me plans to launch the channel. "

"He used to indirectly help me get a good rating for his channel. Goswami knew very well that I knew how the TRP system worked. He lured me in that he Help me in the future. "

"I worked with my team to ensure that Republic TV received a number 1 rating. It would have run from 2017 to 2019. During this time in 2017 Arnab Goswami met me personally at St. Regis Hotel in Lower Parel and my family's US $ 6000 for France and Switzerland Trip. Then in 2019 Arnab met in person at St. Regis Hotel in Lower Parel and gave US $ 6000 for my family's trip to Sweden and Denmark. In 2017 Arnab Goswami at ITC Hotel Meet me and give twenty lakh rupees, in 2018 and 2019 also Goswami met me and gave 10 lakh rupees each time. "

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Partho Dasgupta's lawyer Arjun Singh has completely denied this statement. He said, "This statement must have been forcefully recorded and will not stand in court. It cannot be taken as evidence."

At the same time, according to the newspaper, the legal team of Goswami refused to give any response to this at the moment.

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