India Today Takes Rajdeep Sardesai Off-Air, Docks Salary over Wrong Tweet

New Delhi: The India Today Group yesterday took senior journalist and anchor Rajdeep Sardesai off-air for two weeks and deducted his salary for a month as part of disciplinary action over an incorrect tweet, and announcement on live television, that the man who had died during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi on January 26 had been “shot.”

Sardesai, a consulting editor with the India Today Group, deleted his tweet and mentioned on air that the farmer had been killed in an accident after his tractor toppled.

He had tweeted a video of the tractor overturning and posted that protesters had claimed that the man, Navneet Singh, was “shot at by Delhi Police”, but the video “clearly shows” that the tractor had overturned, and that “allegations” of the protesters “don’t stand”. Asked about the action against Sardesai, the India Today Group said in a statement: “Disciplinary action for breach of our code of conduct is a confidential matter and we would like to refrain from commenting on this.” Sardesai was not available for comment.