A Mumbai Sessions Court has recently rejected a bail plea by former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta, who was arrested, for his involvement in the TRP scam. Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Shishir Hirey is the one who opposed the bail plea since Mr. Dasgupta has misused his position for personal gain. The leaked WhatsApp chats between Mr. Dasgupta and Arnab Goswami seemed to be valid proof that TPR’s of Republic TV was manipulated. The police have also claimed that Goswami paid in lakhs to Mr. Dasgupta in return for the manipulation. Advocate Shardul Singh, who represents Mr. Dasgupta, said that his client’s health was fragile due to “diabetic ketoacidosis” which could cause a life-threatening diabetic coma. Therefore, keeping him in jail is a risk. The defence also stated the since his client was not a BARC board member and had no power to manipulate the TRP’s. Mr. Dasgupta even personally stated that he had no control over the data as it was collected and provided by the Hansa Research Company. Adv. Singh also stated that even if Mr. Dasgupta used his position for personal gain, there was no alleged cheating or criminal breach of trust by the employees or even the advertisers. Mr. Singh also stated that since many others were granted bail since the investigation was just starting his client should also be given bail.
