Aniruddha Bahal

Aniruddha Bahal is the founder and editor-in-chief of [http://www.Cobrapost.com Cobrapost.com] . He has worked for India Today and Outlook and is also the co-founder and former CEO of Tehelka.com, the news website. While at Tehelka, he exposed match-fixing in international cricket, titled "Fallen Heroes". He also exposed the corruption in Indian defence procurement, more popularly known as “Operation Westend.”He wrote "Bunker 13", an espionage thriller which went on to get some attention in international press as in the Guardian John Williams wrote, ‘Remarkable…Imagine Catch 22 rewritten by Hunter S Thompson’.Burgan Weir, wrote in the Observer, “Inspiring. Much like 'The Naked And The Dead', Bunker 13 is elevated by first-hand authenticity”. " India's grown-up answer to M*A*S*H; its just as funny, farcical and ferocious", is what Geordie Greig commented in the Literary Review.

Aniruddha went on to win the Bad Sex Award for "Bunker 13", in London, in 2003.Past winners of the prize included Wendy Perriam, AA Gill, Salman Rushdie and Melvyn Bragg.

Cobrapost.com exposed 11 Members of Parliament taking money to table questions in the Indian Parliament in an investigation named “Operation Duryodhan”. The Committee formed by the Indian Parliament to inquire into the corruption went on to recommend expulsion of all the 11 Members and commented in its report which was tabled before the House.. “A free press using fair techniques of investigative journalism is an indispensable asset to our democracy. We would prefer more acknowledgement from the media that the overwhelming majority of public servants work hard and have high standards.We would prefer more recognition of the value of our democratic mechanisms and the dangers of undermining them..But we do not hold the media in any way to blame for exposing genuine wrong doing. They have a duty to enquire- coupled with a duty to do so responsibly- and in that way contribute to the preservation of standards in public life”.Cobrapost.com subsequently went on to do various under cover investigations for a weekly program on Star News called “Benaqaab". Some of the stories being..

‘Fatwas’, or religious decrees being bought. Reporters bought ‘Fatwa’ to show how religious sentiments of people can be manipulated at a cost. Some of the Fatwas that were issued are.. Watching television in the house is not allowed, polio drops should not be given to children, use of credit cards is illegitimate, income of muslim film actors is invalid and divorce through sms is valid. A few other exposes being on the Beggar Mafia and brokers eyeing NGOs in New Delhi where children take shelter and how trading of these children goes on, expose on BPO industry where sensitive data was being bought and sold.Members and Chairmen of various state Haj Committees compromising to let the Cobrapost reporters choose and manipulate the lottery system through which Muslims make the trip to Mecca.The illegal Adoption racket being run by some doctors, touts, and agencies and how supplying babies to needy couples was a business. A video recording of “suicidal task force”, which is responsible for suicide attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. The video showed the ‘Fidayeens’, as they are called, preparing to blow up on the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting in Srinagar on November 17, 2004. Baptism Certificates for sale to non Christians by the priests of not one but many churches of North India and many such stories established Cobrapost.com’s foray into television.

The latest investigation to come to light was aired on IBN 7, a channel from the TV 18 bouquet of channels, showing 10 Members of the Legislative Assembly, from the most populous and politically volatile of Indian states, Uttar Pradesh, asking for crores to spend in the forthcoming UP elections in lieu for doing anything from throwing eggs at the speaker of the Legislative Assembly to manipulating the government's policies to doing encounter killings.

External links

* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article1988534.ece Profile by The Independent]