Sting goes wrong, 2 scribes caught

The minister concerned, D K Shivakumar, a politician whose entry into the state Congress cabinet was delayed for months on account of pending corruption cases against him, claims he was aware in advance of the sting operation against him and played along before informing the Home minister and police authorities to lay a trap for the journalists.

The sting gone wrong has resulted in two new, young journalists being imprisoned for the last couple of days while the channel head has himself gone underground.

A counter complaint has been filed against the supporters of the Energy minister D K Shivakumar by the channel for allegedly assaulting the two journalists — a 28-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man — after they were caught out by the minister and policemen in plainclothes while handing over cash of Rs 5 lakh disguised as a gift for the minister.

Cameras hidden in glasses worn by a 28-year-old woman journalist, who is a newcomer according to TV9 insiders, cameras tucked into coats worn by them and in the phones held by the journalists, and the cash of Rs five lakh that was handed as a bribe have been seized by the police in the course of the filing of bribery cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The plan behind the sting operation that had been in action for over 10 days was to send two well-attired journalists claiming to be representatives of a British energy company called EnergoPower that was looking to set up a 12 MW solar power generation facility in the state, that was seeking clearance for the project from the energy minister.

According to a press statement issued by TV9 following the arrest of its journalists the sting operation was planned “after receiving several complaints from people and businessmen in general’’. According to TV9 the energy minister demanded a bribe but later after sensing the sting operation “denied having demanded any such bribe’’.

“We have our own intelligence systems and we had information that this channel was planning a sting. These two persons approached me wearing suits and said they had a solar energy project proposal to be cleared. I told them nothing could be done at election time but they kept insisting and we decided to watch them. We found out they were not who they claimed so I informed the home minister and the police and got a trap laid for them for the evening of March 10,’’ Shivakumar said.

Shivakumar said the journalists following their arrest had stated that their channel was planning a series of stings on CM Siddaramaiah’s son, PWD minister H C Mahadevappa, urban development minister Vinay Sorakke, irrigation minister M B Patil and information minister Roshan Baig.

A senior police official however claimed that he was not aware of such a statement.

TV9 countered the minister’s claims with a statement that said: “We at TV9/News9 had conducted a sting operation to expose corruption in Karnataka”. “Even the SC has upheld the validity of Sting operations in a democracy as long as it is done in public interest,’’ the statement said.

Shivakumar claimed the sting operation against him had been instigated by political rivals to weaken him ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

A bail plea of the arrested journalists is scheduled for hearing Thursday. The police are on the lookout for Mahendra Mishra, Director of TV9 (Kannada) and News9 (English) for allegedly directing the journalists to offer a bribe to the minister. The Press Club of Bangalore meanwhile strongly condemned the assault on the two journalists of TV9 by the supporters of the minister.