Senior journalist Rohit Sardana passed away today, according to journalists who shared the news on Twitter.
The Aaj Tak anchor had tweeted that he had tested positive for Covid on April 24.
एक हफ़्ते पहले बुख़ार और बाक़ी लक्षण आने के बाद टेस्ट कराया था. RTPCR नेगेटिव आया लेकिन CTScan से कोविड की पुष्टि हो गई थी. अभी हालत पहले से बेहतर है. आप सभी अपना और अपने परिवारजनों का ख़याल रखें. pic.twitter.com/mq4fC9HQ9L
— रोहित सरदाना (@sardanarohit) April 24, 2021
Zee News chief Sudhir Chaudhary tweeted about Sardana's death, writing that he had not imagined that the virus would take away someone close to him. Sardana had worked for Zee News until 2017 when he joined Aaj Tak.
अब से थोड़ी पहले @capt_ivane का फ़ोन आया।उसने जो कहा सुनकर मेरे हाथ काँपने लगे।हमारे मित्र और सहयोगी रोहित सरदाना की मृत्यु की ख़बर थी।ये वाइरस हमारे इतने क़रीब से किसी को उठा ले जाएगा ये कल्पना नहीं की थी।इसके लिए मैं तैयार नहीं था।ये भगवान की नाइंसाफ़ी है..
— Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) April 30, 2021
ॐ शान्ति
India Today's Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted that Sardana had suffered a heart attack earlier today.
More terrible news friends. Well known Tv news anchor Rohit Sardana has passed away. Had a heart attack this morning. Deep condolences to his family. RIP
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) April 30, 2021
The Press Club of India also expressed its shock at Sardana's death.
The Press Club of India is shocked at the untimely passing of Rohit Sardana, respected TV anchor, who passed away today due to COVID-19.
— Press Club of India (@PCITweets) April 30, 2021
Sardana was one of the most popular faces on Indian TV and his shows Taal Thok Ke & Dangal were watched by millions
We stand by his family pic.twitter.com/MndaMgymIk
Aaj Tak confirmed the news on its broadcast with its anchor breaking down on air. The channel's Chitra Tripathi read out Sardana's tweets from the last few weeks where he had helped people looking for help, she said. He was very young and had two young daughters, she added, saying "it's unbelievable that he was unable to fight this."
Journalists Anjana Om Kashyap and Sayeed Ansari also joined the broadcast by telephone. Kashyap talked about meeting Sardana 20 years ago at Zee News and said she is "broken" at the thought of his daughters.
India has lost dozens of journalists to Covid and related issues in the past year. The Network of Women in Media, India, is maintaining a record of the names of all these journalists. "We mourn the loss of what they knew, what they loved, what each of them did, one story at a time, one photo at a time, one dataset at a time," the organisation stated in a post. See the full list here.
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