Investigating agency plans to book scribe who had shown visuals of officials questioning Nithyananda on TV
Investigating agency plans to book scribe who had shown visuals of officials questioning Nithyananda on TV
The state CID, which is investigating the high profile Swami Nithyananda case, is planning to take legal action against a television journalist for airing visuals of Nithyananda's interrogation.
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| Grilled: A video grab of CID officials questioning Swami Nithyananda at their headquarters in Bangalore |
MS Raghavendra, producer of a daily crime programme that's broadcast on Udaya TV, had shown visuals of officials questioning the self-proclaimed godman in a chamber inside the CID head quarters. Like other news channels, Raghavendra had procured the visuals that were recorded on CCTV camera from a source.
However, the investigating agency is planning to book him on charges that include conspiring against the state
and data theft. The journalist has received calls from CID officials asking him surrender before them. "They even threatened me of dire consequences if failed to comply. It's very scary. They had come to my house past mid-night when I was out on an assignment," said the winner of Ramanath Goenka Award for investigative
journalism.
But D V Guruprasad, DGP of the investigating agency, denied reports of CID harassing the journalist. "You are casting aspersions on us. I will file a defamation case against you if you write anything about this," he threatened this reporter.
Home Minister Dr VS Acharya, on the other hand, admitted that the department is planning to book some journalists, including Raghavendra. "As a few of them have grown so impish, we have to put brakes on them," he said. The state Home Minister fired salvos against Raghavendra for his attacks on the system as a journalist.
Meanwhile, K Diwakar, legal advisor to the Chief Minister, has contradicted Dr Acharya's statement. "The government doesn't have any intention of harassing journalists. It would be like curbing the freedom of the press. As a matter of policy, we welcome criticism but have no plans of indulging in witch hunting."
