The CEO and Editor of the Live India television news channel that broadcast a fake sting operation that purported to show the alleged involvement of a teacher in a prostitution racket and set off a riot in the process said the reporter who carried out the investigation was a “criminal and breached the trust”.

“The reporter kept me in dark and breached the trust. He is a criminal and a hazard for journalism,” Live India editor Sudhir Chaudhary said.