Cobrapost

Cobrapost is an Indian news website and television production house, known for its investigative journalism, which has involved sting operations. It was founded in 2003^[2] by Aniruddha Bahal who co-founded Tehelka.

Sting operations

In 2005, along with Aaj Tak, Cobrapost conducted a sting operation named Operation Duryodhana that exposed eleven members (MPs) accepting money for tabling their questions in the Parliament of India.^[3] This investigation led to expulsion of eleven MPs from the Parliament,^[4][5] the largest expulsion of MPs in the country's history.^[5] In March 2013, its Operation Red Spider charged that some banks in India were involved in money laundering,^[6] using false accounts to convert black money into white.^[7] In November 2013, Cobrapost along with the website Gulail claimed in tapes titled The Stalkers that in 2009, then Home Minister of Gujarat Amit Shah and his team stalked a woman for their Sahib.^[8] The Indian National Congress alleged that the "sahib" was Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chief minister of Gujarat.^[9] In Operation Blue Virus, Cobrapost accused some IT companies of using fake identities on social media to help politicians, especially BJP members, to improve their popularity.^[10][11] The BJP alleged that these were works of the Congress to defame Narendra Modi and the party.^[12] An undercover operation resulting in a video named Operation Falcon Claw showed that eleven MPs from different parties agreed to lobby for a fictitious foreign company,^[13] and also that MPs received money ranging from 50000 (US$800) to 5000000 (US$80,000) for issuing recommendation letters.^[14]

References