New Delhi: A sessions court in Mumbai has rejected the bail application of former CEO of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) Partho Dasgupta, who was arrested in the television rating points (TRP) scam.Dasgupta was arrested on December 24 and is one of the prime accused in the alleged manipulation of TRPs. The Mumbai police recently filed a 3,400-page chargesheet in which they annexed WhatsApp chats between Republic TV founder Arnab Goswami and Dasgupta, alleging that they colluded to inflate the channel’s ratings. Dasgupta is accused of criminal breach of trust and cheating.According to LiveLaw, the court had reserved its orders on Tuesday after the Mumbai Police “vehemently” argued against granting bail to the former BARC chief. Special public prosecutor Shishir Hirey read excerpts of chats between Goswami and Dasputa, apart from arguing that the latter is an influential person who can tamper with evidence and witnesses if released on bail.Hirey also accused Dasgupta of failing to act neutrally in his capacity as CEO of BARC.Also Read: TRP Scam: WhatsApp Messages Reveal Arnab Goswami’s ‘Collusion’ With Former BARC ChiefDasgupta’s advocates Shardul Singh and Arjun Singh argued that there was “nothing more left to be recovered from him”, according to LiveLaw. They also added that the chats that were annexed with the chargesheet were not authenticated by a 65B certificate under the Indian Evidence Act.His lawyers argued that while it may be titillating to read a person’s private chats, they need to have some evidentiary value.According to Bar & Bench, Dasgupta’s lawyers refuted the allegations that he had misused his position as BARC CEO to manipulate TRPs. He submitted that he had no control over the data, which was collected and provided by the Hansa Research Company.Dasgupta’s lawyers also made a case that some of the co-accused have already been granted bail.The former BARC CEO was taken to the ICU of JJ hospital on Saturday, after his blood sugar levels rose. His lawyers argued that keeping him in custody could lead to “life threatening diabetic coma”, according to the Indian Express.They also made the case that the highest decision-making body of BARC was the board, of which Dasgupta was not a member.The alleged TRP scam came to light in October last year. BARC, the primary body that publishes TRPs in India, filed a police complaint through Hansa Research Group, saying that several news channels – including Republic TV – were involved in ‘rigging’ TRPs.