ED summons original complainant in TRP scam

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned

Hansa Research Group

’s deputy general manager,

Nitin Deokar

, for his statement in the money laundering case registered in the Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation scam.

Deokar is the original complainant in the case with the Mumbai police. He has accused a former employee of his company, Vishal Bhandari, of manipulating TRP.

The ED case is based on the Mumbai police FIR.

Sources said that after recording Deokar’s statement, the agency will summon other senior executives of his company. ED will examine their statements along with the collected details before summoning others in the case.

An official said, “The investigation will be mostly about

suspicious financial transactions

that took place between the suspects.”

ED will collect and examine the financial transactions of the suspects in the case along with the companies they are associated with. It had collected the FIR copy from Mumbai police recently before registering the money laundering case or ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) last week. The agency has requested Mumbai police to provide other case-related documents.

At present, ED has named only Bhandari in the money laundering case. In the Mumbai police FIR, it was alleged that Bhandari had offered money to households where BARC barometers were installed for watching specific channels. Broadcasting Audience Research Council (BARC) has given contract to the Hansa group for installing barometers on selected households.



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