Senior journalist Ajit Anjum on Saturday claimed that the friend of Nirbhaya gangrape case victim, who was with the gangrape victim on the night of the crime, charged thousands to appear for interviews.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the journalist penned how he conducted a sting operation on Nirbhaya's friend who asked for and accepted money to give an interview.

Ajit Anjum said, "This incident is from September 2013. The accused in the Nirbhaya rape case were sentenced to death by a fast track court. There was continuous coverage about Nirbhaya gang rape case on all the channels. At the same time, Nirbhaya's friend was narrating the story of the heinous incident on some channels."

When the journalist asked his reporters to get Nirbhaya's friend to the channel's studio for an interview, he was told the man was demanding money to appear on TV channel.

The senior journalist further wrote, "I asked my reporters to bring Nirbhaya's friend to the studio. After some time, I was told that his friend goes to the studio with his uncle and charges thousands for an interview. I could not believe it at first. It was mad."

"I was baffled at the fact that the boy, in front of whom his girlfriend was gangraped, was making 'deals' with channels for telling her story. I was constantly watching him on TV. I never saw the pain in his eyes," he wrote.

In another tweet, he said, "I decided that I would do a sting operation on this friend of Nirbhaya's and expose him on air. My reporter sat in front of me and talked to the boy's uncle from his mobile. He demanded Rs one lakh for coming to the studio. Money was given in front of the boy for a studio interview. Everything was recorded. He was then taken to the studio. After ten minutes into the conversation, the boy was asked why does he take money from channels to narrate the story. The boy kept refusing that he takes money to appear for the interviews."

"Then during the recording, the boy was shown part of his sting on screen. It was then he apologised in front of the cameras," the journalist tweeted.

The journalist also said that he did not expose the sting at that time as he thought the lawyers of the accused would try to take advantage of it.