NOIDA: The editor-in-chief of a Hindi news channel, who had written a Facebook post claiming he had been robbed by five men at gunpoint on June 20, had lied about it due to “personal reasons” and had actually spent the night at a hotel.
The news anchor, who had been refraining from lodging a police complaint, had met a few female friends for dinner at one of their flats in Sector 45 and “rushed” when he received a call from his wife.
But police scanning CCTV footage of the route he took on the night of June 20 found several mismatches in the timings and the sequence of events he had mentioned in his Facebook post.
According to the sequence of events established by Bisrakh police, the TV anchor left for his Ecovillage 1 home from his friend’s flat around 10.40pm and not 12.40am as mentioned in his post.
He crossed the Hindon bridge near Rise Chowk at 10.53pm.
In his post, he said he was robbed near the bridge around 1am and reached his society 15 minutes later.
But according to CCTV cameras, the anchor entered the society at 11pm, went out again at 11.12pm and returned at 11.58pm.
“Around 12.15am, he left Ecovillage again.
His vehicle can be seen at the ATS roundabout and moving towards Hanuman Mandir, crossing Char Murti intersection, Parthala Chowk and finally reaching the hotel at 1.07am,” the police said in a statement.
“It was also confirmed that he made a payment at the hotel via netbanking.
On checking the entry register, it was found that while he did not make any entry, CCTV footage established he had visited the facility,” it said.
The anchor’s female friend has told the police that around 1.20am, he called her up to say he had been roaming the streets and had checked into a hotel to spend the night.
DCP (central Noida) Harish Chander said while they were not concerned with the journalist’s personal life, the fact that he had given false information had been established.
Additional DCP (central Noida) Ankur Aggarwal said, “It seems there were some family reasons why he gave the false information.
He will be questioned.” Asked to comment on his post, the TV anchor said, “I don’t want to say anything more.
I don’t have hard feelings against anyone.
I have nothing to say on the theory of the ‘suitable truth’ being told.
I am better silent because here, it takes years for a living person to prove that he is alive.
Yes, the ‘female friend’ being talked about is like my younger sister and there were two more sisters present at her home.
I stayed at the hotel alone but there may be personal reasons for those who want to spread doubts about this.
I don’t want to say anything on that too.” The spot where the journalist claimed to have been robbed is barely 300 metres from the Rise police chowki in Noida (extension).
He had shared his ordeal in a Facebook post — “life is safe probably because I am a TV anchor”.