After speculations were rife that Rajdeep Sardesai has resigned from India Today after he was suspended for two weeks, new speculations say that it has been put on hold for some time.
According to insider sources from India Today, the group head Aroon Purie has stepped in to “manage” the resignation of the controversial journalist. Poorie is trying to “manage” the embarrassing situation both the media house and the controversial journalist are facing following he was caught spreading fake news multiple times in this week.
Sources say that as per this plan, Rajdeep Sardesai will stay on with India Today for the time being, and he will leave the network sometime in future, so that his resignation is not linked with the controversies he has created this week. According to sources, channel is unhappy with Rajdeep because he not only posted fake news about the death of a farmer protestor on 26th January in Delhi, but he also made statements on air making completely false allegations. He had said on air that he was shown the body of the farmer with bullet injury on the head.
Rajdeep Sardesai had claimed that the farmer was shot dead by Delhi police, while the fact is that he had died after his tractor had overturned while he was trying to do a stunt with the vehicle. It was confirmed by the video footage of the incident, accounts of journalists who witnessed the event, and the post-mortem report of the farmer. It was also reported that when the police had tried to rescue the farmer after the accident, they were prevented from doing so by the protestors, causing the death.
Not just this, Rajdeep Sardesai had invited lots of humiliation onto himself and the channel just a few days ago, when he had joined the fake controversy over the portrait of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. When the portrait was unveiled on 23rd January on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Netaji, a large number of opposition leaders and journalists had claimed that the portrait actually depicts actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, who had played the role of Bose in a movie. But later it was revealed that the portrait was based on a photograph of Bose, which was supplied by his grand-nephew. Rajdeep Sardesai was one of the journalists to spread the fake news on Twitter, along with others like Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose, Rohini Singh etc.
With ED closing in on India Today over the fake TRP case, the channel may be looking for a more honourable time for the eventual exit of Sardesai. Therefore, the resignation of the journalist may be managed for the time being, according to the speculations.
