Two days after the Tehelka-Aaj Tak expose, government advocate Arvind Pandya (representing it in the Justice G T Nanavati and Justice K G Shah Commission) accused Aaj-Tak correspondent Dhimant Purohit of tricking him and using deceit to implicate him in the sting operation. Purohit has denied the allegations and has claimed it as a ploy to harass journalists and stifle the media.

In the expose, Mr Pandya has been shown claiming that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would have dropped bombs during the Godhra communal riots if he had not been a minister.

Pandya, who claimed he had resigned as government advocate from the commission on Friday, filed a complaint against Purohit in the Maninagar police station on Saturday. He told Deccan Herald that Purohit had sent two decoys who claimed that they were producing a television serial on Godhra-to his office seven months ago. He claimed that he had been made to read out the script that had negative and positive shades and was made to rehearse certain lines. While the positive part had been recorded on camera, the negative lines were recorded by a hidden camera.

He said he had also been made to sign on a script and was told that it would be sent to him later, along with a CD of his recording. “I had no reason to suspect Purohit as we had travelled together to Kailash Manasarovar and he had personally vouched for the integrity  of the two persons. They have now shown selective portions of the recording with the intention of maligning my name in society,” Pandya claimed.

Pandya also stated that the sting was a conspiracy to scuttle his role in the commission where he represented the state government. He suspected that the others who had been exposed in the sting were also similarly trapped by using devious means.

Meanwhile,  Purohit claimed that efforts by him to get a copy of the complaint to enable him to file for anticipatory bail had hit a wall, leaving him vulnerable to arrest by the police.