Sting operation: Shazia Ilmi takes channel, editor to court

Aam Adami Party’s Shazia Ilmi, who was one of the leaders of caught in an alleged sting operation, has filed a criminal complaint with the Delhi police and also taken the channel, India News editor-in-chief Deepak Chaurasia and  journalist Aniranjan Jha to court for defamation.

Speaking to rediff.com, she said, "The sting operation is more of a intellectual rape and assault on my integrity," she claimed.

“The conversation was tempered with. They used one question and answer from another part. We had asked for the raw footage but they chose to hand over the footage to the Election Commission and we got it from there,” she said.

“The raw footage clearly established our point of view. I had not asked for money. All that I said was they can give money and due receipt would be issued to the person concerned," Shazia said.

She lost to Anil Sharma of the Bharatiya Janata Party by 326 votes. But she is not upset for her defeat. "When I talked to Arvind Kejeriwal, he praised me for putting up a good show. Mohammadpur and Munirka villages did not vote for me en masse".

Her brother Rashid Ilmi contested against her from the R K Puram constituency. He got a mere 90-odd votes.

"Na Paise pe, na daru pe, mohar lagegi jharu pe (not on money, not on drink; stamp will be put on broom {the AAP’s election symbol}) that was our main slogan. We were in the poll fray with a purpose and not merely as vote spoilers. We got 28 seats and were second in 20 other places," Shazia said who worked 14-hour days.

"We held nukkad nataks 9street plays). I had a core group of 50-60 persons and 300 workers who worked round the clock to canvass for me. I am thankful to everyone who worked for me and for those who voted for me," she added.