Senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai has said sorry, fourteen years after he aired a sting operation wrongly accusing BJP leader Ajit Singh Tokas of taking money for carrying out project in his ward.
FYI. pic.twitter.com/zA4apfyOnG
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) October 13, 2025
Back in 2011, a programme titled ‘IBN7 and Cobra Post Investigation’ on ‘Dilli’s Double Agents’ was aired on 7 November and 6 December. In the show, a claim was made alleging that former BJP councillor Ajit Singh Tokas had demanded money in connection with unauthorised construction in Munirka, Delhi.
However, in third party investigation it was found that Tokas did not demand any money and such practice was not entertained in his ward by him.
Fourteen years later, however, Sardesai has apologised for airing the string operation.
Rajdeep Sardesai and Cash For Votes sting
Sardesai in his apology note mentioned how his role was limited solely to anchoring the programme based on the said investigation. However, it is interesting to note that during the UPA I, when the cash for votes scam surfaced, the sting related to the same was not telecast by Sardesai, who wanted to ‘investigate’.
After Nuclear Bill vote in 2008, the Left Parties on 9 July 2008 submitted a letter to the President withdrawing support from Dr Manmohan Singh government. A special trust vote session was called on 21 July 2008. The swing votes held the power to ensure Dr Singh’s government doesn’t collapse.
On July 22, 2008, during the trust vote debate, three BJP MPs — Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste, and Mahavir Bhagora — entered the Lok Sabha with bags of cash alleging they had been offered bribes to abstain or vote in favour of the UPA. The money was allegedly from Samajwadi Party that had promised support to the UPA after Left withdrew.
The sting that was carried out was aired only partially allegedly on behest of Sardesai which led to allegations of media manipulation and selective editing.
An ultimate example of Rajdeep Sardesai's 'ethical journalism'!
— Shreya Arora (@shreya_arora22) March 28, 2025
Listen to how Rajdeep did not broadcast the sting tapes in 2008 cash for votes scam👇 pic.twitter.com/IR0F4E01fS
As a former colleague of Sardesai mentioned, him as well as Ashutosh, who was heading the Hindi channel and later cofounded Aam Aadmi Party, both did not allow telecast of sting that could have brought the UPA government down.
Sardesai was awarded the Padma Shri in journalism by the UPA government in 2008.
