Senior journalist and television anchor Rajdeep Sardesai has once again tendered a public apology for broadcasting false and defamatory news, this time related to a sting operation involving BJP councillor Ajit Singh Tokas.
FYI. pic.twitter.com/zA4apfyOnG
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) October 13, 2025
Apology to former BJP Councillor Ajit Singh Tokas
Sardesai issued a public apology 14 years after a programme titled ‘IBN7 and Cobra Post Investigation’ aired on November 7 and 6, 2011, as part of a series called ‘Dilli’s Double Agents’. The show alleged that former BJP councillor Ajit Singh Tokas had demanded money in connection with unauthorized construction in Munirka, Delhi.
Subsequent third-party investigations found that Tokas had not demanded any money and that such practices were not tolerated in his ward. Sardesai, in his apology note, stated that his role was limited to anchoring the programme based on the investigation.
Rajdeep Sardesai tendered a public apology for airing malicious allegations of corruption against a BJP Councillor.
This is not the first time he has done it.
He has issued a similar apology to an IPS officer who was wrongly named in the Sohrabuddin encounter case. pic.twitter.com/uPQFwJ0Vcs
— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) October 13, 2025
History of Misreporting and Selective Coverage
Sardesai’s record includes multiple instances of misreporting:
During the UPA I government, he allegedly withheld the full broadcast of a sting exposing the cash-for-votes scandal related to the 2008 Nuclear Bill trust vote. BJP MPs Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste, and Mahavir Bhagora had claimed to possess cash offered to sway their votes. The partial telecast led to allegations of selective editing and media manipulation.
Former colleagues reported that Sardesai, along with Ashutosh (then heading the Hindi channel and later co-founder of the Aam Aadmi Party), did not allow the full sting to be aired, which could have potentially brought down the UPA government.
An ultimate example of Rajdeep Sardesai’s ‘ethical journalism’!
Listen to how Rajdeep did not broadcast the sting tapes in 2008 cash for votes scam👇 pic.twitter.com/IR0F4E01fS
— Shreya Arora (@shreya_arora22) March 28, 2025
Sardesai was awarded the Padma Shri in journalism by the UPA government in 2008.
Sohrabuddin Encounter Case Apology
In May 2007, Rajdeep Sardesai, then Editor-in-Chief of CNN-IBN, aired a programme titled ‘30 Minutes – Sohrabuddin: The Inside Story’, alleging that IPS officer Rajiv Trivedi had facilitated the abduction and fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi. The programme claimed that Trivedi provided cars with fake number plates for the alleged transfer of the couple to Ahmedabad.
A complaint was filed in Hyderabad court against Sardesai and ten other reporters, claiming that the report was false, fabricated, and defamatory. Efforts to quash the case through the Hyderabad High Court were dismissed in April 2011, and the Supreme Court dismissed a Special Leave Petition in May 2015. A plea to transfer the trial to Noida was also dismissed.
On November 27, 2019, Sardesai submitted an unconditional apology to IPS officer Rajiv Trivedi, acknowledging that the allegations against him were false. He stated, “…I realise that there is nothing to substantiate the allegation that Vanzara and Pandian nabbed Sohrabuddin and Kauserbi in Bidar with the help from SP Rajiv Trivedi of Hyderabad, Special Investigation Unit, and hence it was a false news telecast… I further submit that there is nothing to substantiate the allegation that Rajiv Trivedi provided cars with fake number plates in which Sohrabuddin was brought to Ahmedabad and then killed in a fake encounter.”
Following the apology, Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge D. Hemanth Kumar accepted it and passed an acquittal order the same day, noting that all respondents tendered unconditional apologies and were found not guilty under Section 500 of the IPC.
More recently, Sardesai was penalized for falsely claiming that a protesting farmer had been shot dead by police in Delhi, which led to him being taken off air and docked a month’s salary.
Despite his long record of misinformation, Sardesai continues to be a prominent anchor on India Today, raising concerns about the credibility of primetime news on the channel.
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