No information on leaked Arnab chats in TRP scam, MHA tells Parliament

The Centre has no information on the purported WhatsApp chats of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami related to confidential and sensitive information, which surfaced during the investigation into the television rating point (TRP) scam by the Mumbai Police, minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Reddy’s written response to at least six members of Parliament seeking details on the leaks said, “No such information has come to the notice of the government.”

Ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have demanded a probe in the purported chats between Goswami and former Broadcast Audience Research Council head Partho Dasgupta, saying that the leak of sensitive information was a breach of the country’s security.

The 500-page plus transcript of the purported WhatsApp conversations – containing details of the Balakot airstrike in retaliation to the February 2019 Pulwama attack and the Centre’s move to strip of Jammu & Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status – was part of the charge sheet the Mumbai police submitted in January before a court in the TRP scam. The leak created a political storm.

The Congress Working Committee sought a joint parliamentary committee probe into what it called a breach of national security.

Gandhi has said that leaking such top secret information is a criminal act and those responsible for it as well as the recipient should both be booked.