In the ongoing TRP scam case, the Enforcement Directorate has attached immovable and movable properties and balances in bank account totaling Rs 32 crore of television channels namely Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema, and Maha Movie.
The Enforcement Directorate release said that investigations have revealed that the Proceeds of Crime for these channels is to the tune of Rs 46 crore. ED initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Mumbai Police.
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The investigation further revealed that television channels namely Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema and Maha Movie, had entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat and committed the offence of criminal breach of trust, forgery in order to gain wrongfully by manipulating Television Rating Points (TRPs) of these Television Channels.
“Thus, by fraudulently enhancing the TRP ratings, these channels have garnered enhanced advertisement revenue. In two of these channels; just 5 compromised households were contributing to approximately 25 per cent of the viewership of Mumbai for the relevant period and for the third channel, 5 compromised households were contributing to approx. 12 per cent of viewership of Mumbai,” the ED release said.
Further investigation is in progress.