Ex-BARC CEO discharged from hosp, bail plea on Jan 25

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to submit by Monday the medical report of Partho Dasgupta, former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) CEO arrested in the television rating points (TRP) rigging scam.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to submit by Monday the medical report of Partho Dasgupta, former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) CEO arrested in the television rating points (TRP) rigging scam.

A single bench of Justice PD Naik heard an urgent bail plea this evening, filed by Dasgupta's counsels, seeking interim bail for at least two weeks considering his poor health.

Last week, Dasgupta was rushed to JJ Hospital from the Taloja prison, where he is lodged as an undertrial after his blood sugar levels shot up and he fell unconscious.

Dasgupta was discharged this evening, after which his lawyers moved HC seeking an urgent hearing.

"He was discharged from JJ Hospital on a stretcher. If he was fit enough to be discharged, then he should have been walking out and not been carried out on a stretcher," said Dasgupta's counsel Arjun Singh Thakur.

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The state's counsel, Deepak Thakare, told HC that as per protocol since the JJ hospital had certified Dasgupta to be fit for discharge, he will be taken to the Taloja prison hospital.

If he is certified as fit, he will be shifted to his prison cell, or else, he will be taken back to JJ hospital, Thakare said.

"So, the court directed that the state produce his (Dasgupta's) latest medical reports. And it will hear our urgent bail plea on Monday," advocate Thakur said.

Dasgupta was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch on December 24 last year.

Earlier this week, a sessions court here rejected his bail plea saying he played a vital role in the TRP scam.

PTI