Mumbai (Maharashtra): The crime branch of the Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested a 45-year-old man, the ninth accused in the alleged Television Rating Points (TRP) rigging case.
Harish Kamlakar Patil (45), a resident of suburban Chandivali, was arrested by the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the crime branch.
Patil was produced in court and was remanded to police custody till October 26.
It was suspected that Patil took money from some TV channels to fraudulently ramp up TRP, an official said.
Investigation revealed that there were some financial transactions between Patil and absconding accused Abhishek Kothawale who runs a media company.
Patil allegedly helped Kothawale to flee from the city after the probe began, he said.
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Patil owns some shell companies, the official said, adding that the bank account of one of these companies was suspected to have been used to receive money from some news channels.
The money was distributed by Kothawale to some of the arrested accused who used it to bribe the households, from where viewership data was being collected, to watch a particular channel, the official said.
Chief finance officer of Republic TV S Sundaram and distribution head Ghanshyam Singh have been questioned by the CIU this week, he said.
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The alleged fake TRP scam came to light when ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint with the police, alleging that certain channels were rigging TRP numbers to lure advertisers.
It was alleged that some families at whose houses meters for collecting data of viewership were installed were being bribed to tune into a particular channel.
(With inputs from agencies)
