Chetan Sharma's revelation: Feels like an interview, stings like a bee

Chetan Sharma's revelations in the cricketing space are just the latest outcome of big sting operations that have been going on for at least 20 years

Just when we thought media revelations have lost their sting, BCCI’s selection committee chairman Chetan Sharma gets caught revealing sensitive information in such an operation. Sharma resigned from his post early on Friday and sent his letter to BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, who accepted it. The resignation comes amid a controversial sting operation by Zee News, which showed Sharma revealing classified selection matters.

Sharma, who was recently reinstated by the BCCI after being removed following India's showing in the T20 World Cup in Australia, was seen during the sting operation casting aspersions on players like Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. Sharma also allegedly revealed his internal discussions with head coach Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli during the sting conducted by Zee News.

Sharma alleged that there was an ego tussle between former captain Kohli and former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly. The chief selector claimed Kohli had started considering himself “bigger than the Board” and had tried to “hit back” at the former BCCI president, as he felt that Ganguly had removed him from ODI captaincy.

“When a player becomes popular, he considers himself to be bigger than the Board and thinks that nobody can touch him. He feels that cricket in India would stop without him. But has that ever happened? Some of our biggest cricketing stars came and went but cricket remained the same,” Sharma was seen saying.

Sharma also alleged that a lot of players take injections to expedite their return to competitive cricket despite being 80-85 per cent fit.

His revelations nonetheless seem more benign than some of the other major sting operations India has witnessed over the years.

Tehelka’s sting on Bangaru Laxam

The first big sting operation in India, conducted by Tehelka in 2001, showed former BJP president Bangaru Laxman accepting Rs one lakh as bribe from journalists who posed as arms dealers. The reporters had introduced themselves as representatives of a fictitious UK-based company. Laxman had to quit from the post of party president after the expose. He was also sentenced to four years in jail in the corruption case.

Tehelka’s sting on Babu Bajrangi

One of the main accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre of the 2002 Gujarat riots, Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, alias Babubhai Patel, was caught on camera accepting that he abetted the execution of Muslims after the riots. In the sting, Babu Bajrani said he was ‘proud’ of the killings on February 28, 2002, which led to the killingg of 97 Muslims.

NDTV’s sting on Lawyer R K Anand

During the investigations for the infamous BMW hit-and-run case, NDTV, along with a witness, carried out a sting operation that showed the complicity of two reputed senior advocates influencing a key witness in favour of the main accused, Sanjeev Nanda. The sting carried out on May 30, 2007, exposed defence lawyer R K Anand and public prosecutor I U Khan trying to bribe Sunil Kulkarni, who had seen Nanda drive the BMW. The Delhi High Court subsequently debarred the two high-profile lawyers for four months.

Cobrapost and Gulail’s sting on Amit Shah

In November 2013, Cobrapost and the website Gulail claimed in tapes titled “The Stalkers” that in 2009, then Home Minister of Gujarat, Amit Shah ordered an illegal snooping operation on a woman, at the behest of their 'saheb' (boss). The tapes revealed conversations between Shah and IPS G L Singhal, ordering Singhal's team to follow a young woman architect from Bangalore in accordance with instructions from 'saheb'. The police followed her inside malls, restaurants and gyms, and tracked her scheduled flights, hotel bookings, and even visits to her mother at a hospital. The Indian National Congress alleged that 'saheb' referred to Narendra Modi, who was then Chief minister of Gujarat.

Tehelka’s sting on witnesses of Jessica Lal Murder case

In another important sting operation, police got vital clues and information about the Jessica Lal Murder case. The expose carried out by Tehelka magazine against three key witnesses — Shayan Munshi, Karan Rajput, and Shiv Dass — who had turned hostile, claimed that witnesses in the case were bribed to change statements. The tapes exposed Munshi, who had said he did not know Hindi well enough to know what he was signing when investigators told him to sign his witness’ account, showing off his prowess in the language. The sting operation proved helpful for the police to nail the main accused Manu Sharma.