This week, host Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is joined by Newslaundry’s Sumedha Mittal and independent journalist Anand Mangnale.

Sumedha and Anand break down their investigation on Kiran Bedi’s use of public resources for surveilling her daughter. They say the decorated IPS officer not only “misused her powers in doing so”, but also covered up her alleged misdeeds by presenting herself as a “helpless, concerned mother”.

Kiran Bedi left “no room for differentiation between helping somebody and breaking the law for them,” they add.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:39 - Kiran Bedi Tapes

00:25:35 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Anand

Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World

Sumedha

After NL-TNM story, Kiran Bedi makes ‘concerned mother’ claims, silent on Swiss diplomat’s rape

Shivnarayan

The RSS: A Menace to India

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Sumedha Mittal is joined by Newslaundry’s Prateek Goyal and Drishti Choudhary.

Prateek explains the Nagpur violence that resulted in the damage of several vehicles and shops, the injury of 33 police officers, and a division among the communities. He says the violence was “just a sample of radical mindsets” and that extremists fueled by “ego” mobilised the mob.

Drishti talks about the phenomenon of AI anchors in Indian newsrooms, and why this model “is not working”. She also explains how these anchors are ‘stereotyped’. 

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:38 - Nagpur violence

00:11:52 - AI anchors in the newsroom

00:22:44 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Drishti

The Palace of Illusions: A Novel

Prateek

Chhava

Sumedha

The costs of Reliance’s wildlife ambitions

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by Newslaundry’s Prateek Goyal and Avdhesh Kumar.

Prateek talks about two big stories he reported on last week. The first is allegations of rape against prominent industrialist Shyam Sunder Bhartia. He explains why there was a delay in the police registering an FIR, and how a court had to get involved. The second, part of the Hindu Rashtra Project, details how Hindutva groups in Madhya Pradesh target interfaith couples – even if they’re protected by the court. 

Avdhesh talks about his follow-up story from Sambhal, where communal violence broke out last year. While the police have made several arrests, he says this doesn’t quite add up. 

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Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:28 - Rape case against Shyam Sunder Bhartia

00:12:09 - Police ‘action’ in Sambhal

00:26:04 - ‘Love jihad’ in Madhya Pradesh

00:33:26 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Prateek

Master Saab

Avdhesh

Walk The Talk with Mayawati (Aired: May 2005)

Aap Ki Adalat | Mayawati In Aap Ki Adalat | Golden Moments Of Aap Ki Adalat | Rajat Sharma

Basant

In Madhya Pradesh, ‘love jihad’ crusaders overrule high court orders to target interfaith couples

Crime Beat

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Anmol Pritam is joined by Newslaundry’s Avdhesh Kumar and Shivnarayan Rajpurohit.

Avdhesh’s ground report from Sambhal raised questions about the veracity of claims made by two prominent newspapers about locals “fleeing” the violence-tensed region. Citing officials, the outlets reported that several locals “fled” over fear of arrest or police crackdown. However, on visiting Sambhal Avdhesh found this narrative to be misleading. Residents of houses mentioned as “locked” by the newspapers had a different tale to tell.

Shivnarayan reported on Railway authorities’ unusual move of distributing cash to the victims of the tragic stampede at the New Delhi railway station. He explains how the move was not only insensitive but violated Railways’ guidelines on distribution of solatium amounts.

He also discusses his report about the Central Pollution Control Board findings on the water quality of Ganga and Yamua during Mahakumbh. Not only the water in several ghats of Prayagraj was found to be unfit for bathing, the levels of faecal bacteria in some locations was over 13 times the permissible limit.

He had previously also reported on how almost all of the air monitoring stations in Delhi violated CPCB norms. Out of the 25 stations he visited, at least 22 were either surrounded by dense vegetation or had obstacles blocking airflow in clear violation of the regulatory body’s guidelines.

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Timecodes

00:00:00 – Introduction

00:02:25 – Reality of locals ‘fleeing’ Sambhal

00:12:50 – Stampede at New Delhi railway station

00:26:00 – CPCB report on Mahakumbh’s waters

00:41:03 – Delhi AQI monitors flouting norms

00:47:08 – Recommendations

Recommendations

Avdhesh

Chamcha Yug

Gulamgiri

Shivnarayan

Dubliners

Anmol

The Post

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

Small teams can do great things. All it takes is a subscription. Subscribe now and power Newslaundry’s work.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Pratyush Deep is joined by Newslaundry reporters Avdhesh Kumar and Basant Kumar.

Avdhesh reported on how voters in Delhi’s 12 reserved seats voted in the recent polls. He explains that despite the AAP’s massive defeat, a large section of Dalit voters continued to vote for the party.

Basant was on the ground in Prayagraj reporting on the stampede at the Mahakumbh. He says the Uttar Pradesh government wasn’t being transparent about the actual death toll, and that it failed to manage the crowds that day. 

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:17 - Delhi’s reserved seats

00:16:06 - Death toll in Kumbh

00:38:57 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Avdhesh

Basant

Sanam Teri Kasam

Pratyush

Scam Inc from The Economist

Jailed for ‘kidnapping’ her own child, a homeless woman’s long road to justice

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Sumedha Mittal is joined by The Caravan’s Sunil Kashyap.

Based on the learnings from his reportage on BJP’s strategy to make a comeback in Delhi, Kashyap underlines how in its campaign and outreach efforts, the saffron party foregrounded regional and caste identities in Delhi this time. The party pulled no stops to win over different communities and groups with targeted promises and tailored measures. On the other hand, he says the AAP seems to be losing shine among its own workers.

Tune in.

Timecode

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:35:12- BJP’s strategy for Delhi

00:55:04:14 - Recommendation

Recommendations

Sunil

Mein Azaad Hun

Sumedha

Can BJP pull the Valmikis away from AAP?

Capital Gains: BJP’s strategy to unseat the AAP in Delhi

Produced and edited by Hassan Bilal, recorded by Anil Kumar.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Anmol Pritam is joined by Newslaundry’s Pratyush Deep and Basant Kumar.

Pratyush profiled Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, digging into the curious growth of his small firm. Within six years, its revenue rose from Rs 45 lakh to over Rs 323 crore. He also sheds light on his journey from an engineer to a minister.

Basant discusses his experiences reporting on the Delhi assembly polls. He explains what factors are working in favour of political parties and how leaders have changed the very functioning of elections over the past years. 

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:06:38 - Ashwini Vaishnaw

00:15:37 - Delhi polls

00:34:52 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Basant

Paatal Lok

Delhi की रिजर्व सीटों पर विकास का हाल, दलित वोटरों का किस तरफ झुकाव | Ground Report | Delhi Election

Pratyush

George Soros vs. the Bank of England

Anmol

Black Warrant

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by Ranchi-based independent journalist Anand Dutta and Newslaundry’s Drishti Choudhary.

Anand talks about his IndiaSpend report for which he trekked for several hours in remote areas of Jharkhand to understand how it is like for vulnerable sections to access healthcare. Across India, people have to cover an average distance of 13.55 km to reach a community health centre, and the problem is not limited to Jharkhand.

Drishti, meanwhile, spoke about her reportage on the Delhi elections, including her video report on what voters feel in Asia’s largest unauthorised colony of Sangam Vihar.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00:00 - Introduction

00:04:30:00 - Jharkhand’s Healthcare Access Report

00:23:31:09 - Delhi Elections Reports

00:32:44:18 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Drishti

The Midas touch of Ashwini Vaishnaw

Basant

What a four-hour trek reveals about Jharkhand’s healthcare access

Anand

Davanal: Maovad Se Jung by Nandini Sundar

Produced by Hassan Bilal, edited by Samarendra Kumar, recorded by Anil Kumar.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A reporters’ podcast about what made news and what shouldn’t have.

NL Team

This week, host Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is joined by Sumedha Mittal.

Sumedha’s series for Newslaundry, Broken Ballots, tracked curious deletions and additions of voters to the electoral rolls. Based on data and fieldwork, she found an odd pattern, which she says places a question mark on the Election Commission. She also cautions that this could be “used as exploitation”, regardless of whoever is in power. 

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:18 - The Broken Ballots series

00:50:20 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Sumedha

A day with AAP volunteers who reflect the party’s convoluted social-justice politics

Shivnarayan

Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In November last year, there were a flurry of reports in the Indian media on a waste-to-energy plant in Delhi’s Okhla that causes significant health risks to people living nearby. 

All these reports cited the same source – an investigative piece in The New York Times by journalist Maria Abi-Habib. Currently based in Mexico, Maria spent five years, between 2019 and 2024, to report on the story. She found the plant, operated by a subsidiary of the Jindal Group, pumps “as much as 10 times the legal amount of dioxins” into Delhi’s skies, and that its workers say it was “never regulated”. 

In this special episode of Reporters Without Orders, Newslaundry’s Pratyush Deep talks to Maria about how she stumbled upon this story. Her husband had been working on a series on air pollution in India – what Maria describes as “the biggest topic of concern, or should be, for most families and the government”. During the course of it, he met residents of Sukhdev Vihar, where the plant is located.

“They said they have been living there for a while and once the plant started, that is when their health problems started,” Maria says. “So, we decided to take a look and what we found was pretty incredible and also a little bit horrifying.”

Maria also explains the challenges she faced in reporting the story, and why she thinks Delhi’s air pollution crisis persists. 

“It is up to the government to take a look at the story and say why this plant is continuing to get the permission to expand its operations, why this Jindal family subsidiary continues to get more plants,” she says, adding that the group has “seven across the nation”. “If they can’t responsibly manage this plant, then why should they be given others?”

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.