A news video of CNN IBN, showing Payal Rohatgi and Sangram Singh, is being shared widely on social media. The video is being shared with the following text – “Modi bootlicker Payal_Rohatgi was caught in a sting operation where she agrees to post pro-BJP and anti-Muslim tweets. She asks for Rs.25 lakhs in cash and Rs. 5 lakhs in cheque. Hinduism ke naam pe musalmano par nafrat pahelane ke liye 30 lakhs. This is how BJP uses unemployed ‘celebrities’ to promote their hate agenda”. Let’s analyze the authenticity of that claim.
Claim: Video of Payal Rohatgi getting caught in a sting operation demanding money to post pro-BJP and anti-Muslim tweets.
Fact: In 2012, Cobrapost and CNN IBN conducted sting operations on various top Bollywood personalities to find out the prevalence of black money in the industry. During that time, Payal Rohatgi and her then-boyfriend Sangram Singh were also subject of those sting operations and the video in the post belongs to one of those sting operations. So, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The video in the post has the logo of CNN IBN (now renamed as CNN News 18) on it. When searched for that video on YouTube, the same sting operation video was found on the YouTube channel of ‘News18 Lokmat’. The video had the timestamp of July 10, 2012, and from the description of the video, it was found that when Cobrapost’s undercover reporter met Payal Rohatgi as a film financier and discussed regarding offering her roles in the films, Payal had asked black money as payment to sign those contracts.
The information in the ‘Hindustan Times’ article with the title ‘Bollywood biggies caught in black money sting operation’ mentions that when Payal Rohatgi and her boyfriend Sangram were approached by a fake producer asking them to act in his film, they have demanded a fee of Rs. 30 lakh each and have stated that they would want Rs. 25 lakh in cash and Rs. 5 lakh in cheque.
To summarise, an old sting operation video is being falsely shared as ‘Payal Rohatgi caught while demanding money to post pro-BJP tweets’.
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