Essar Leaks: 2 journalists resign, third put on notice

Hindustan Times Editor-in-Chief Sanjoy Narayan said: “Prima facie the accusation is a serious violation of basic ethical standards, and of the trust that our readers place in us. We, therefore, had no choice but to suspend Ms Airy with immediate effect, pending an inquiry into her conduct. She has chosen to resign rather than participate in the process. Her resignation has been accepted.”

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Bamzai, who has also been named in Essar communications as someone who asked the group for a cab for a few days in 2012, resigned on his own accord. “Nobody asked for my resignation. I resigned out of my own sense of propriety,” he said.

Bamzai accepted having asked the Essar Group for a cab: “In hindsight, it was a stupid mistake. I needn’t have done that… but the fact is I did ask for the cab and I decided to pay for that mistake by resigning today… but the other allegation in the PIL that I did a hit job at their (Essar Group) behest is entirely incorrect and false.”

Times Now Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami said the organisation had initiated an inquiry against Meetu Jain. “We have taken a tough position on the issue. We have given her a few days to explain her position on the allegations made in the said PIL. Meanwhile, she has been taken off all her official responsibilities with immediate effect,” Goswami said.