Operation West End

Operation West End was the first sting operation done by Tehelka in 2001, the Indian news magazine known for its investigative journalism. It was done in order to make the murky defense deals public. The special correspondents of the magazine filmed several corrupt defense officials and politicians of ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government including Bhartiya Janta Party then President Late Bangaru Laxman. The operation took seven and a half months to complete, which later shook the country and adversely damaged the image of India in the International arena. The nightmarish fact is that a fictitious arms company successfully bought 34 individuals in high places including key politicians of ruling government. It is a known fact that corruption is rampant among politicians but the operation in 2001 blew the lid over sorry state of the nation, which was ruled by Bhartiya Janta Party and its allies, resulting in loss of faith by Indian people.

The magazine created a fictitious London based arms manufacturing company known as West End International. The strategy adopted by the investigative journalists was to get in touch with a person in the lowest end of the defence chain and then move upwards. Therefore, the operation started with the Senior Section Officer P. Sashi who was posted in the Ministry of Defence. His desire to make money from arms dealers provided the starting point for journalists from Tehelka. After getting some monetary incentive, P. Sashi took the team to Brigadier Anil Sehgal’s house in New Delhi. Sehgal was then the Deputy Director in Directorate General of Ordnance and Supply (DGOS), an important army procurement post. Both these officials helped the team with two vital things; information about a defence product required by the Indian army and how to move ahead in order to sell their products.

Brigadier Sehgal demanded to be entertained in a five-star hotel to which the team agreed. The former brought in Lt. Colonel Sharma, who was an army officer posted in Air Force procurement section. After the meeting, Brigadier Sehgal demanded Rs. 200,000 to give documents related to the procurement of hand-held thermal cameras and other equipment that the company might be interested in supplying to the Indian Army. After accepting the money he also advised on how to proceed in the matter of bidding for the hand-held thermal cameras. During the conversation, Brigadier Sehgal said that the money company will have to pay to everyone and some percentage will also reach to the Defence Minister George Fernandes. P. Sashi also provided confidential documents related to procurement of ammunition, tubes, clothing and even helicopters.

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