Vinod Mehta reveals inside story of 'The Insider' scoop

“Rao rang me up and wanted to know who had given the manuscript to me,” “Outlook” editor-in-chief Vinod Mehta said at a function organised here on Tuesday night to celebrate 15 years of the magazine.

“I said, Mr Prime Minister, this is asking a journalist to reveal his sources. He said I am the Prime Minister of this country. Please tell me who gave it to you. I said I can do anything for you but not this. He banged the phone down,” Mehta said.

Mehta said he got the manuscript from Nikhil Chakravartty, editor of “Mainstream” magazine. “I gave it to my then colleague Sagarika Ghose, who made a great story out of it,” he added.

“After the magazine hit the stands, Nikhil rang me up and said what have you done? The Old Man (Rao) is shouting,” Mehta recalled.

“Nikhil said in the next issue, you please write that the manuscript of ‘The Insider’ was not given by Nikhil Chakravartty. I did so in the next issue. That is how we started the first issue,” Mehta said.