Param Bir Singh evades Republic's questions on TRP truth; Netizens ask 'Why hiding now?'

As the Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted its chargesheet at the sessions court in Mumbai after two years of the probe into the TRP rigging scam, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh was seen evading Republic TV's questions on September 24. In 2020, Param Bir accused the Republic Media Network in a 'Fake TRP' case and personally gave a clean chit to other channels.

Netizens demand #ParamBirAnswerNow

Now after the truth has come out, Republic TV tracked down the tainted police officer on the streets of Mumbai where he can be seen in his car behind screened windows with a covered face evading the channel's questions. When asked about the fabrication of evidence against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami, Republic Media Network getting a clean chit from ED and now India Today being under the scanner, there was no response from Singh's side.

As the disgraced IPS officer ducked Republic TV's question, Netizens have now taken Twitter by storm demanding #ParamBirAnswerNow. With Republic's #ParamBirAnswerNow hashtag, one of the users questioned his silence calling him a liar, while another user asked him to apologise for maligning the image of Republic TV.

False TRP case 

On October 8, 2020, Ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh held a press conference to share details of an alleged 'TRP scam' into which the police were probing - Republic TV and two Marathi channels, Fakht Marathi and Box Cinema. Mumbai police initially arrested 10 individuals including Hansa research's ex-employee Vishal Bhandari who confessed that a person named Vinay paid him Rs 5,000 as commission for distributing Rs 1,000 among five panel households to ask them to watch India Today daily for two hours. 

While Param Bir Singh named Republic TV, neither the FIR, complaint, remand copy nor the arrested individuals' statements mentioned the channel, instead they named India Today.

Furthermore, the then Mumbai CP's press conference came just days after a complaint in the matter had been lodged and before any probe could take place, in which Republic wasn't named. Within hours, Republic had accessed the complaint copy, revealing the name of another channel and no mention of Republic TV. What followed, however, was a systematic witch-hunt of Republic Media Network, including the summoning, interrogation, and arrests in a crackdown on the employees of the network.

In November 2020, the ED filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), in the TRP case. After multiple rounds of summoning and interrogation, the ED then filed a report before a special court in Mumbai. It is yet to be accessed, but media agencies claim 'no evidence' was found against Republic TV. 

 "No evidence of Republic TV or Republic Bharat indulging in these practices was forthcoming either by the statement or by digital data evidence," PTI quoted the chargesheet. 

Image: Twitter/RepublicWorld