Greta-Disha WhatsApp chats, ‘conspiracy against India’ dominate news on Zee, NDTV, Aaj Tak

New Delhi: Prime time news on Tuesday was consumed by developments in the ‘toolkit’ case, mostly Delhi Police evidence against climate activist Disha Ravi who has been arrested in the alleged ‘toolkit conspiracy’ case.

At CNN News 18, anchor Anand Narasimhan discussed the statement of climate change activist Nikita Jacob, who is allegedly involved in the ‘toolkit’ case. India Today’s Preeti Choudhry wondered whether the 21-year-old Ravi’s arrest was an ‘executive overreach’ or ‘true threat’.

Meanwhile, NDTV 24×7’s Sreenivasan Jain revealed that the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court granted transit anticipatory bail to Shantanu Muluk. “He is an associate of Nikita Jacob, the lawyer who along with Disha Ravi were part of the conversation where they allegedly (plotted) a conspiracy against India for supporting (alleged) Khalistanis,” Jain explained.

CNN News18’s Narasimhan asserted bombastically: “We will bring to you the reality around us where those who have always had the intent to break our country and bleed it with a thousand cuts are now resorting to something that many don’t understand.”

He presented the statement of the ‘accused’, in this case Nitika Jacob, for those “who were questioning the veracity of Delhi Police’s claims”.

“Nikita Jacob is demanding a transit bail but her lawyer has accepted that she was on a Zoom call with pro-Khalistan outfit Poetic Justice Foundation,” Narasimhan commented.

India Today’s Choudhry declared that Disha Ravi’s arrest had the “nation divided”. “Activists are up in arms demanding her release, terming her arrest as an abuse of power and an executive overreach.”

She added: “… there is a huge set that seems to believe what the Delhi Police said that she needed to be arrested to establish conspiracy.”

Choudhry also reminded viewers that amid all this, the DCW (Delhi Commission for Women) had sent a notice to the Delhi Police over the “alleged breach of norms in her (Ravi) arrest”.

On Zee News‘ DNA, Sudhir Chaudhary was busy dissecting Disha Ravi’s WhatsApp chats. “Today, we’ll expose the relationship between Ravi and Greta Thunberg and show you how the two are conspiring against India,” he alleged, adding he had such sensational proof in his hands that it will make the audience ‘hate’ Greta Thunberg and Disha Ravi. The same information about some WhatsApp chats between Thunberg and Ravi was available on all channels too.

“Accessing their chats is a big win not only for Zee News but for the audience too,” he said, declaring Zee News engineered the #GretaThunbergExposed hashtag on Twitter, hailing it as the channel’s biggest win. Chaudhary boasted about making a hashtag trend on Twitter.

Aaj Tak‘s Rohit Sardana also had the toolkit as the contentious topic of his show, headlined ‘Toolkit, Khalistan aur Ghamasaan‘, (tool kit, Khalistan and war). Sardana attacked Congress spokesperson Abhay Dubey: “Jo Bharat ke khilaf hoga, uspar aapka haath hoga (will you support everyone who is against India)?”

Dubey said Ravi had objected to EIA draft in 2020 (Environment Impact Assessment), which is why the government is after her. He also asked why the country wasn’t talking about burning issues such as unemployment and the farmer protests. “Toolkit is just a distraction”, he said.

Sardana then thundered: “Can you tell me why a UAPA notice was sent to her house?” He was met with an equally passionate comeback: “because she sent a notice on EIA!” (The Print)