In what snowballed into a major issue, veteran Supreme Court lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan has shared WhatsApp screenshots and contents of a chargesheet that purportedly contains a conversation between Arnab Goswami, the Republic Media Network’s editor-in-chief and Partho Dasgupta, the ex-chief executive officer of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).
Goswami’s Republic TV has been named in the TRP manipulation scam that the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Crime Branch-CID of Mumbai police has been investigating for the past few months. A total of 15 persons including Dasgupta have been arrested by the CIU, of which 12 have been chargesheeted.
There was no confirmation available either from the Mumbai police or the Maha Vikas Aghadi government on the chats – running in two files and several hundred pages - that has gone viral on social media.
Bhushan, in a tweet, said: “These are a few snapshots of the damning leaked WhatsApp chats between BARC CEO & Arnab Goswami. They show many conspiracies and unprecedented access to power in this government; gross abuse of his media and his position as power broker. In any rule of law country, he would be in jail for long.”
The voluminous chats reveal stunning information related to Goswami's proximity with the Prime Minister's Office, movers and shakers in the government, manipulation of TRPs and so on. In one of the screenshots, it appears that Dasgupta had allegedly sent a confidential BARC letter to Goswami saying that he had jammed the News Broadcasters Association (NBA).
Goswami allegedly replied that he might meet the prime minister regarding the matter. There are some references to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as well.
In another tweet, which had contents from the chargesheet, Bhushan said: “These leaked WhatsApp chats of Arnab Goswami are far more explosive than Nira Radia tapes. They show the unholy nexus of media with those in power; It shows how TRP is manipulated; It shows how cynically fake news is propagated; above all, it lays bare the prime Dalal of Dalali street!”