Former CEO of rating agency BARC, Partho Dasgupta, has been admitted in the ICU of state-run JJ hospital in central Mumbai, an official said on Saturday.
He was arrested in the alleged fake Television Ratings Point (TRP) case,
His daughter took to Twitter to allege that he was tortured in prison, and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others to 'save his life'.
Dasgupta, 55, a diabetic, was rushed to the state-run J J Hospital here from the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai around mid-night after his blood sugar levels shot up, a prison official said.
He was admitted to the ICU and was on oxygen support, the official said.
Dasgupta, former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) was arrested in the alleged TRP rigging scam by crime branch of the Mumbai Police on December 24 last year.
A Mumbai court had earlier this month rejected his bail plea, stating that he appeared to have played a vital role in the scam to rig TRP as per the police's case.
The Mumbai Police had earlier told the court that Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami had allegedly bribed Dasgupta with "lakhs of rupees" to ramp up the news channel's viewership numbers fradulently.
On Saturday, Pratyusha Dasgupta, Dasgupta's daugther, demanded that he be shifted to a reputed private hospital.
She tweeted a message titled "A helpless daughter's anguished appeal", tagging PM Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, the PMO as well as Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Her mother received a call around 3 am on Saturday informing that her father had been brought to the hospital in the unconscious state around 1 pm on Friday, she said.
For 14 hours nobody from the family was informed about Dasgupta's condition because the authorities allegedly did not have their contact numbers, Pratyusha said.
When they reached the hospital, they found he was unable to speak, she said.
It was apparent that he had been "physically and mentally tortured inside the jail", she alleged.
Prison officials were not available for giving reaction on her allegations.
A Mumbai court had earlier this month rejected the bail plea of Dasgupta, stating that he played a vital role in the scam.
The Mumbai Police had earlier told the court that Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami had allegedly bribed Dasgupta with "lakhs of rupees" to ramp up the news channels viewership.
Earlier, a Mumbai court, while rejecting the bail plea of Broadcast Audience Research Council's (BARC) former CEO Partho Dasgupta, had observed that he played a "vital role" in the alleged Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation scam.
In his order, the magistrate had said the material available on record shows the involvement of the accused in the alleged crime.
"The present applicant (Dasgupta) played the vital role in the commission of offence," he observed in his order.
The alleged scam came to light last year when rating agency BARC filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, saying certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers.
(With PTI inputs.)
