COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

'Star interviewed an impersonator, not Dara Singh'

Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneswar

The interview of Dara Singh, the man accused in the killing of Australian Graham Stewart Staines, by Star TV, a television channel, caused a controversy.

But, according to two Congress leaders of Keonjhar, B Das, the panchayat samiti chairperson in Keonjhar, and L Das, the block Congress president there, someone else, and not Dara Singh, was interviewed.

"We know him [Dara Singh] intimately for the last 10 years. He was a Hindi teacher in a school some years ago. So there is no question about we failing to recognise him. The man [who was interviewed] is not Dara at all, " said B Das.

Meanwhile, Binoy Bhushan Patnaik, the photojournalist who claimed to have interviewed Dara Singh, accused the police of causing him mental torture. He even fears Dara Singh or the police may take his life. And so he has sought protection.

Soon after the interview Binoy was called for questioning by the police.

"We had to arrest him since he refused to co-operate with us in locating a known offender, the Koenjhar SP told Rediff On The NeT.

"Binoy, who was released on bail, returned to Bhubaneswar and complained about the harassment of the press.

A Press Council of India team in Bhubaneswar held a special hearing and asked the government to investigate allegations of harassment and to provide him with protection. A K Tripathy, the state home secretary, said, "The PCI specifically stated that no one is above the law and everyone has to co-operate to stop criminals. I don't think the questioning was wrong. But we will have a high level committee to probe the claim of mental torture."

Tripathy admitted the local police had been found wanting in tracing Dara Singh. They were also unable to locate the cameraman, sound recordist and light boy who accompanied Binoy. Binoy's story of coming across Dara while chasing wild elephants in the jungle hardly passes muster.

The home secretary pointed out to the PCI that Binoy was not a working journalist, let alone an accredited one.

"It is a publicity stunt. Some unscrupulous people got together to gain some cheap publicity. Binoy was a pawn," alleges the news editor of a leading daily in Bhubaneswar, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Tell us what you think of this report