Kerala launches probe into ‘BARC TV rating fraud’

Kerala Police have launched an investigation into allegations of a massive television rating manipulation after a complaint claimed that a Malayalam news channel paid nearly RsIOO crore to a Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) employee to artificially boost its viewership figures.

- AM Abdussalam

The cyber division of the state police began examining digital trails this week, with Director General of Police (DGP) Revatha Chandra Sekhar describing the case as “very serious.”

The complaint alleges that the channel paid large sum, reportedly via the cryptocurrency USDT (Tether), to a Mumbai-based BARC employee identified as Premnath, who is said to have supplied sensitive ratings data ahead of official releases and facilitated targeted manipulation of the rating meters.