Chandigarh: “Why was my phone taken?” TV news anchor Sudesh Nain Mor asks a woman police officer inside a police station. “Are we terrorists?” The officer tells her an FIR has been registered against her and others. Sudesh demands a copy of the FIR. She is heard telling the woman police officer that she can’t be dealt with like this.
The exchange is part of a video that went viral Saturday. It shows Nain Mor, an anchor and editor with Living India News channel, in a heated argument with the police after her arrest.
The Kurukshetra Police arrested five people from the channel Saturday. They are Managing Director Atul Aggarwal, editor Saurabh, anchor Nain Mor, journalist Neetu and driver Lovepreet. Police say the channel aired an old video as a “live sting operation” and then blackmailed a man featured in it.
Aggarwal is also the Editor-in-Chief of Hindi Khabar, a Hindi news website. A case has been registered at the City Thanesar police station under the IT Act and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The FIR is based on a complaint.
On Sunday, the police produced the accused in a local court in Kurukshetra, where the court sent Aggarwal and Neetu to police remand for four days and Sudesh Nain Mor and Saurabh to three days of police remand, Kurukshetra Superintendent of Police Chander Mohan informed The Print.
The arrests came a day after the channel ran a news story, “Udta Haryana: Saini Ka Ladwa Nashe Mein Udd Raha (Ladwa flying high on intoxication)”.
Ladwa in Kurukshetra is the home constituency of Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
The video story was anchored by Sudesh Nain Mor, with Neetu reporting from the ground, and it alleged that the drug menace was rampant in Haryana’s CM’s own constituency.
In the report, Sudesh Nain Mor said that while Saini has been travelling to poll-bound Punjab promising to rid the neighbouring state of the drug menace, youths in his own assembly segment were deep into drug addiction.
The media organisation has denied the police’s allegation and called the arrests an attempt to stifle free press. The Chandigarh Press Club as well as Opposition leaders have also questioned the arrests.
Also read: Haryana Police shake-up: IPS officer Navdeep Virk is human rights DG, 35 officers transferred in all
What police say
In a video posted on the Kurukshetra Police’s X handle, SP Chander Mohan said the complainant told police that the channel had shown his personal video, recorded on 16 April 2026, as a live sting. The complainant also alleged that he was later blackmailed, with the channel allegedly threatening to not reveal the “truth” about the video.
The police, however, did not clarify what the personal video was or how the channel was trying to blackmail the complainant. The police did not even reveal the complainant’s name in its press release.
कुरुक्षेत्र पुलिस की बड़ी कार्रवाई।
16 अप्रैल 2026 की पुरानी वीडियो को फर्जी लाइव स्टिंग ऑपरेशन के रूप में प्रसारित करने तथा वीडियो की सच्चाई उजागर न करने के नाम पर ब्लैकमेलिंग के आरोपों में Living India News चैनल के 5 पदाधिकारी गिरफ्तार।
मामले से संबंधित तथ्यों और पुलिस… pic.twitter.com/ySGdtgexvw
— Haryana Police (@police_haryana) October 11, 2026
Answering a WhatsApp message by ThePrint, the SP named the complainant as one Naveen Saini and said the channel had been blackmailing him against revealing that the video used by them as a sting was in fact an old video.
In his video message, the SP said the “sting” video showed some people consuming drugs in a building, which the news presenter said was owned by former minister Subhash Sudha.
The people seen in it complained to the police that the footage was about six months old and had been shot in a different context.
The SP later told ThePrint that, contrary to the claim made in the alleged sting, the building did not belong to Subhash Sudha.
In the video statement, the SP said the channel’s office-bearers had “hatched a conspiracy” and circulated the clip widely as an instance of drug abuse.
Police said they had the original video, the date of its recording, and details of the people who made it. They said they had also relied on mobile phones and technical evidence.
“Efforts are also being made to ascertain the motive behind the alleged dissemination of false information,” the police said in a press note. Further action, they added, would follow as per law.
Channel’s response
Living India News, on its website, and through videos released on its YouTube channel, linked the arrests to its campaign against the illegal drug trade in Haryana. It asked whether action against journalists who bring out the truth in public interest was justified.
In a report published Saturday, Hindi Khabar said the Haryana Police had “abducted” Aggarwal from his Noida residence early in the morning.
It said Aggarwal had backed Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s campaign for a drug-free country. Action against him, the channel added, was taken because he raised his voice against the drug trade in Haryana.
The website said Living India’s senior editor Saurabh Upadhyay and Nain Mor had also been taken into custody. It claimed Nain Mor’s phone was snatched at the Thanesar police station.
Hindi Khabar appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah for Aggarwal’s release. It also demanded the release of the other three. The report itself noted that the police’s official version was yet to come, and that the grounds for the detentions and the journalists’ present status needed confirmation.
Press Club’s statement
In a statement issued Saturday, the Chandigarh Press Club said Nain Mor, a member of the club, and Upadhyay were taken away by Haryana Police from the channel’s office in Chandigarh. It said reports had also emerged that Editor-in-Chief Atul Aggarwal was picked up from his residence in Noida.
The club said Living India News had been running a series of investigative stories on drug availability in Haryana. Action against its editorial team in this context, it said, raised serious concerns about press freedom and the ability of journalists to report on public-interest issues without fear.
The club said any allegations against the journalists must be dealt with strictly in accordance with law. It asked the police to disclose the grounds for the arrests and ensure that the journalists’ legal rights were protected. It demanded their immediate release “unless their continued detention is legally justified”.
The statement is signed by club president Saurabh Duggal and secretary general Rajesh Dhall.
Opposition reactions
Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the BJP government has failed to check the drug problem and is now targeting journalists who show the truth. He called the action an attack on press freedom.
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala said the government should order an impartial probe into the drug trade and the allegations linked to it, instead of arresting journalists.
Congress MP Kumari Selja asked why journalists were being acted against and not drug peddlers. She demanded that the government make public the legal basis for the arrests and release the journalists at once if there was no valid ground for their detention.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also read: Haryana Police shake-up: IPS officer Navdeep Virk is human rights DG, 35 officers transferred in all