NEW DELHI: A Mumbai court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to Republic TV COO Priya Mukharjee in the alleged TRP manipulation case.

The sessions court directed Mukharjee to appear before the concerned police station once every week. In case Mukharjee is arrested, she can be released on bail bond of Rs 50,000, the court added.

She was taken into custody on 19 November and was later granted transit bail by the Karnataka high court as she was in Bengaluru and was apprehending arrest by the Mumbai police.

The high court had granted bail for a period of 20 days within which period Mukharjee was asked to approach the concerned jurisdictional court for further relief. Later, she moved the sessions court for anticipatory bail.

A few weeks ago, Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami was also arrested and was later released on bail after a gap of nearly 10 days. Republic TV has been urging the courts to transfer the investigation to CBI.

Mumbai police unearthed the fake ratings scam on 8 October after rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers. Hansa had been tasked with installing barometers, which record viewership data at sample households.

 Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh then claimed that Republic TV and two Marathi channels — Box Cinema and Fakt Marathi - were involved in manipulating TRPs. 

Since then several arrests have been made in the case and there have been legal developments both within and outside of the courtroom.