TRP scam: HC grants bail to former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta

Bombay High Court grants bail to former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two solven sureties of the same amount.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) CEO Partho Dasgupta, an accused in the Television Rating Points (TRP) rigging scam.

Justice P D Naik granted bail to Dasgupta (55) on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two solven sureties of the same amount.

The court permitted him to furnish temporary cash surety of the same amount for a period of six weeks, by which which he would have to submit the solvent sureties.

Dasgupta approached the HC in January this year after a sessions court rejected his bail plea while noting that he had played a vital role in the scam and was the alleged "mastermind".

Dasgupta was arrested on December 24 last year and is in jail since then.

He is accused of having misused his official position and conniving with ARG Outlier Media, the company that runs all Republic TV channels, and with Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, to manipulate TRPs.

The Republic TV has denied any wrongdoing.

(PTI)