The Mumbai Police on Thursday clarified that their investigation into television rating points or TRP manipulation by three television channels was based on a complaint by a private firm, reported NDTV. “The complaint was lodged by independent agency Hansa, not us,” said Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh. “Suspicious trends were noticed by them, not us. They noticed suspicious trends of ratings or certain channels. They shared details of discrepancies.”

Earlier in the day, the Mumbai Police said it was looking into allegations of TRP manipulation by Republic TV and two other Marathi television channels. Four people allegedly associated with a false TRP racket have been arrested so far. Officials of Republic TV, which claims the highest TRPs among news channels, are likely to be summoned by investigators either on Friday or Saturday.

TRPs are a tool provided to judge which programmes are viewed the most. It gives an index of the choice of the people and also the popularity of a particular channel. The private firm that filed the complaint, Hansa, assesses viewership.

Singh’s remarks came after Republic TV strongly denied the charges, reported News18. In a statement, the channel’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami said he would file a criminal defamation suit against the Mumbai Police and accused Singh of making false allegations because he had questioned him in the Sushant Singh Rajput case investigation. “He should issue a public apology or get ready to face us in court,” Goswami said.

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