SC asks prominent Media Group to approach Bombay High Court in TRP scam case

An SC bench comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee asked a prominent news channel group to approach the Bombay High Court in the Television Rating Points scam case registered by the Mumbai Police.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked a prominent news channel group to approach the Bombay High Court in the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam case registered by the Mumbai Police.

A bench comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee said the high court has been working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and the media group should approach it as its office is located at Worli.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the media house, expressed apprehension about the ongoing probe saying "of late, there is a tendency that commissioners are giving interviews".

The Mumbai police has registered a case in the TRP scam and summoned prominent news channel group's chief financial officer for investigation.

The police have already arrested owners of two other media channels in the case.

The racket came to light when BARC, an organization which measures TRP, filed a complaint in this regard through Hansa Research Group Pvt Ltd, the police said.

The plea in the apex court was filed by Arg Outlier Media Private Limited which owns the Republic Media network.

It may be recalled that TRP is a tool to judge which TV programmes are viewed the most and also indicates the viewers' choice and popularity of a particular channel. It is interesting to note that the development, by Mumbai police, comes after their claim that nearly 80,000 fake social media accounts were set up to defame the Maharashtra government and its entire structure.

With inputs from PTI