Nirbhaya Gangrape Victim's Friend Took Money For Media Interviews, Claims Senior Journalist

In an startling claim, senior journalist Ajit Anjum on Saturday said that the friend of Nirbhaya gangrape victim, who was with her at the time of the incident, made money off media interviews. Ina  series of tweets, the journalist revealed how he conducted a sting operation on Nirbhaya's friend, who demanded and accepted money to appear for a studio interview. "This incident is from September 2013. The accused in the Nirbhaya rape case were sentenced to death by a fast track court. There was continuous coverage about Nirbhaya gang rape case on all the channels. At the same time, Nirbhaya's friend was narrating the story of the heinous incident on some channels."

Anjum, who was with News24 at the time of the sting operation, said he came to know about this when he asked his reporters to get Nirbhaya's friend to the studio for an interview. He said that his reporters told him that he goes for interviews with his uncle and charges thousands of rupees for it.

"I was baffled at the fact that the boy, in front of whom his girlfriend was gangraped, was making 'deals' with channels for telling her story. I was constantly watching him on TV. I never saw the pain in his eyes," the jounalist said.

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Anjum further wrote, "I decided that I would do a sting operation on this friend of Nirbhaya's and expose him on air. My reporter sat in front of me and talked to the boy's uncle from his mobile. He demanded Rs one lakh for coming to the studio. Money was given in front of the boy for a studio interview. Everything was recorded. He was then taken to the studio. After ten minutes into the conversation, the boy was asked why does he take money from channels to narrate the story. The boy kept refusing that he takes money to appear for the interviews."

"Then during the recording, the boy was shown part of his sting on screen. It was then he apologised in front of the cameras," he said, adding that he didn't show the sting at that time was as he didn't want the alwyers of the accused take advantage of it.

उस लड़के की आंखों में मुझे कभी दर्द नहीं दिखा. उसकी आवाज़ में निर्भया की चीखों की पीड़ा मुझे कभी नहीं दिखी.उसकी जगह कोई होता तो हर बार टूटता.रोता. लेकिन वो तो पैसे ले लेकर इंटरव्यू दे रहा था. पता नहीं उसने निर्भया को बचाने की कोशिश भी कितनी की होगी ? ये सवाल मेरे भीतर आज भी है https://t.co/IiTunMhwnQ

— Ajit Anjum (@ajitanjum) October 12, 2019