Over 100 unaired sting videos allegedly used by Power TV Rakesh Shetty for blackmail, extortion

Bengaluru

The blrpost.com has exclusively seen more than 100 sting videos allegedly carried out on the instructions of Power TV Managing Director Rakesh Shetty, with many of the videos allegedly being used for blackmail and extortion. The sting operations were allegedly carried out and recorded by K V Prashanth Kumar, a close associate of Shetty.

A whistleblower who worked with Rakesh Shetty showed the videos to a reporter of this website and explained the context surrounding several of the recordings in detail. The whistleblower also provided the names of persons whom Shetty allegedly blackmailed and extorted over a period of many years.

Also read: CM Siddaramaiah visits Rakesh Shetty who was sentenced to 3 months jail

The videos were shown to this website after a sting video involving Shetty surfaced on a YouTube channel. Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy subsequently claimed that the video had been used to blackmail former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to resign.

Following the emergence of that video, the whistleblower showed more than 100 other videos to the reporter and explained how the recordings were allegedly made, the circumstances in which they were shot and the manner in which some of them were allegedly used.

This website has seen videos that were allegedly used to blackmail or extort police officers, a judge, government officials and others. In connection with a video related to a judge, a complaint was also registered with the vigilance department in the Karnataka High Court.

According to the whistleblower, the sting operations formed part of a strategy allegedly devised by Shetty to gather material that could subsequently be used against individuals who became the targets of the operations.

“Shetty, who runs a rented Satellite channel (Power TV), allegedly devised a strategy of carrying out sting operations with the purpose of blackmailing. After shooting sting videos of staged managed bribery, casual conversations with officers (filled with high profile names), fake IT raids and many more, Shetty would approach the target to extort,” the whistleblower explained.

The whistleblower’s account, along with the videos shown to this website, points to several different formats being used for the sting operations. These included recordings involving alleged bribery of police officers and government officials, conversations involving high-profile names, and other staged or planned activities.

In one of the videos seen by the blrpost.com, Rakesh Shetty was seen along with retired government officials planning a fake IT raid. Interestingly, Shetty himself was stung by his associate Prashanth Kumar, who was involved in carrying out the sting operations.

In another video seen by this website, Shetty was seen going into a property and asking people about the Benami details pertaining to a retired IPS officer.

Several of the sting videos were allegedly shot using a common script in which police officers at police stations and government officials were allegedly offered bribes on the pretext of getting work done.

In one such video, Prashanth Kumar, who carried out the sting, was seen bribing a police officer while saying that he wanted permission to shoot a movie.

The videos shown to this website include recordings involving different individuals and different circumstances. The whistleblower explained the background to the recordings and identified the persons whom Shetty allegedly targeted using such videos.

The existence of more than 100 such unaired sting videos, as shown to this website, raises questions about the alleged purpose for which the recordings were made and how the material was subsequently used. This also raises questions of integrity of sting operations by media outlets. The whistleblower said “a court-monitored probe must be ordered in this connection to bring out the truth.”  

The videos and the explanations provided by the whistleblower are being reported as part of the material shown to this website.

The blrpost.com will be exposing the nature and context of the videos in a series of stories soon.