Karma hits, backing truth; Rajdeep Sardesai issues unconditional apology for false reporting over Sohrabuddin case

New Delhi, January 13: A wise man once said, ‘What goes around, comes around..’ and if it’s something pertaining to a hidden lie then Karma hits back like nothing else. In a world where journalism holds great significance on truth, a sown seed of lie and false deed will reap you with embarrassment and insult. Learning his mistake, placing the truth before the world, the noted television anchor and consulting editor for India Today, Rajdeep Sardesai was acquitted by a Hyderabad court after he issued an unconditional apology for false reporting over the killing of dreaded gangster Sheikh Sohrabuddin

 

While working with CNN-IBN, Rajdeep Sardesai, the then Editor in Chief in 2007, had run a program on Sohrabuddin case titled ‘30 Minutes - Sohrabuddin, The Inside Story’ casting aspersions on the role of IPS officer and Prisons department Director-General Rajiv Trivedi. Trivedi had then filed a criminal defamation suit against Sardesai for falsely implicating the truth,

Therefore, in November 2019, Sardesai filed a sworn and signed affidavit admitting that it was a false story about Trivedi. In the affidavit, Sardesai said he realised that there was nothing to substantiate the allegation that Trivedi provided cars with fake number plates in which Sohrabuddin was brought to Ahmedabad and then killed in a fake encounter. “The news telecast by us about Trivedi was false. Realising our mistake, I offer an unconditional apology to Trivedi for telecasting false news about him and sincerely express my regrets for the irreparable loss, pain and agony caused to him, his family and friends,” Sardesai said.

During the program, the channel alleged that IPS officer Rajiv Trivedi, who was then part of the Hyderabad Special Investigation Team probing the Sohrabuddin case, had provided cars with fake number plates to transport Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi to Ahmedabad, where they were killed in an encounter. A complaint was subsequently filed by the State of Andhra Pradesh against Rajdeep Sardesai and ten other reporters of CNN-IBN before a court in Hyderabad. It was alleged before the court that the report had tarnished the reputation of Rajiv Trivedi and was false, fabricated, and defamatory.

In December 2018, a Special CBI Court acquitted all the accused in the Sohrabuddin Encounter case. Judge SJ Sharma observed that there was no substantial evidence to prove the charges of conspiracy and alleged fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati and the murder of Sheikh’s wife Kausar Bi.