Delhi Police on Saturday arrested the journalist who wrote a report quoting a fake RTI reply that said Ayush – Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy –ministry had denied jobs to muslims, reported the Times of India. Pushp Sharma is a senior investigative journalist with The Milli Gazette. He was arrested for fabricating the RTI reply in the report that was published in the March 16-31 issue of the English publication.
Sharma has so far held that the RTI response he based the article on was true and authentic. However, the ministry has denied the report, and has said that its response to the RTI query was fabricated and misinterpreted. Sharma as well as the editor of the newspaper have been questioned by the police regarding the article in the past.
According to Sharma, the RTI reply revealed that 711 Muslim yoga trainers had applied for a short-term assignment abroad, but none were called for an interview or were hired.
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