TRP manipulation: Court takes cognizance of CBI charge sheet against Sunil Lulla
The charge sheet said that data manipulation was more likely to have taken place at the Mumbai office at the behest of the former BARC CEO Lulla
A special court in Lucknow has reportedly taken cognizance of the CBI charge sheet against ex-BARC CEO Sunil Lulla in the case of viewership manipulation. According to the allegations, Lulla was party to the manipulations that brought down India Today's viewership ranking from 2 to 3.
According to the charge sheet, Lulla gave orders to bring down the rankings, terming it a "business decision."
Based on the charge sheet, the court contended that the manipulation of TRP data can be done at two levels -- one at the household level through broadcasters or by the BARC officials themselves at the Mumbai office by manipulating the servers.
It said that the probe agency couldn't detect any manipulation at the household level by TV channels. So it has zeroed in on the second possibility of manipulation by BARC officials at the Mumbai office, where the data might have been tinkered with at the instructions of the BARC CEO.
“The oral statements and the documents annexed with the final report have established and raised reasonable doubt that there is manipulation in the data of BARC at the Mumbai office before releasing of the data. There is documentary evidence on record which states that there were instructions from Lulla to the subordinates of measurement science to explore changes in the data of India Today on April 29, 2020,” the court noted.
The court noted these observations while levelling charges against Lulla under IPC sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 465 and 468 (both related to forgery), and 477-A (falsification of accounts).
The CBI said in its charge sheet: "BARC collects data from a sample of households across the country using specially installed metres to give viewership ratings of channels operating across the country, directly impacting the advertisement revenue generated."
Lulla's spokesperson gave a statement in light of the accusations: “Mr Sunil Lulla has been a high integrity professional in his entire career and has an unblemished track record. His conduct has been as per BARC policies and procedures, and all the allegations made against him are totally false. We have complete faith in the rule of law and the courts."
