A legal notice has been sent "to cease and desist from reporting fake, unsubstantiated, false and unverified news against Republic TV in respect of the alleged TRP scam being investigated by the Mumbai Police; remove the false news report from all mediums; and to publish an unconditional apology to Republic TV for reporting such false and fake stories and issue a corrigendum clarifying the correct facts, in all print and digital media, and other social media platforms", on behalf of Mr. Arnab Goswami and ARG Outlier Media Private Limited in view of the alleged false news report mischievously titled, “Arnab Goswami paid me $12,000 and Rs 40 lakh to fix ratings: Partho Dasgupta” published and reported on 25 January 2021 in the Indian Express, digital and print media, and other social media platforms. The notice states that the news report is a part of a mala fide, vicious and vexatious campaign to tarnish the reputation. They further state that despite the pendency of the matter before a court of law, the above news report has attributed guilt to him in relation to the alleged TRP scam. The news report has sought to impute guilt on him without paying any heed to the true facts and to the indeterminacy of the issues and pending court action by Mr Goswami before the Hon'ble Bombay High Court. According to them, The news report has sought to impute guilt on Mr. Goswami without paying any heed to the true facts and to the indeterminacy of the issues and pending court action by Mr Goswami before the Hon'ble Bombay High Court. The news report has alleged that the former BARC CEO, Mr. Partho Dasgupta has stated: “I worked with my team to ensure manipulation of TRP ratings that made Republic TV get number 1 rating. This would have continued from 2017 to 2019. Towards this, in 2017 Arnab Goswami had personally met me at St Regis hotel, Lower Parel and given me 6000 dollars cash for my France and Switzerland family trip…also in 2019 Arnab Goswami had personally met me at St Regis and given me 6000 dollars for my Sweden and Denmark family trip. Also in 2017, Goswami had personally met me at ITC Parel hotel and given me Rs 20 lakh cash… also in 2018 and 2019… Goswami met me at ITC hotel Parel and gave me Rs 10 lakhs each time…”.
Indian Express states “Dasgupta’s statement was recorded in the office of the Crime Intelligence Unit on December 27, 2020, at 5.15 pm, in the presence of two witnesses.” However, the news report omits to mention that the statement allegedly by Mr. Dasgupta was made while he was in police custody and hence inadmissible in evidence. The news report also omits that the statement was extracted from by the Mumbai police from Mr. Dasgupta under coercion and duress. The Indian Evidence Act under Section 25 lays down that a confession made to a police-officer shall never be proved as against a person accused of any offence and under Section 26 it is clear that it is only when a confession is made in the immediate presence of a Magistrate that it may be considered valid.