First to be stung by Tehelka, Bangaru says Tejpal had no morals

Former Bharatiya Janata Party president Bangaru Laxman, the victim of Tehelka’s first sting operation in 2001, has said the magazine’s editors took the moral high ground by creating a morality bubble.

Former editor Tarun Tejpal mentioned the sting on Bangaru Laxman, following which he had to resign as party president and more or less vanished from the country’s political landscape soon after, in his bail application that was later withdrawn. The sting had shown Laxman accepting cash as an alleged kickback from undercover journalists posing as arms dealers.

Twelve years after the sting, Laxman spoke to The Indian Express  and said he has been watching the latest developments on Tejpal keenly on television, despite his ill health.

“I just heard that Tejpal wants time until Saturday to face the Goa police. If he is the courageous journalist who stood for some morals, what is he afraid of?” Laxman is quoted as saying."I think he and Tehelka wanted to clean the system, root out corruption. They put themselves on a high moral ground. But they themselves are not above it."

Laxman said Tejpal “does not have any morals”, adding that he himself had never accepted the money he was accused of taking but thta it had been a case of entrapment.