Josy Joseph

Josy Joseph is an Indian investigative journalist and author.

He is the founder of Confluence Media, a platform-agnostic investigative journalism organization.

He is an adjunt faculty at O. P. Jindal Global University

He graduated from NSS College, Cherthala, affiliated to the University of Kerala, in Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics, and holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Journalism.

In April 2001, Joseph conducted one of the last known interviews of Abdul Majid Dar, the chief commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Kashmir's biggest militant group.

During the interview, Abdul Majid Dar claimed that Hizbul was opposed to suicide attacks, which the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had just begun carrying out in Kashmir.

Dar was killed a few months later.

In May 2003, Joseph published a five-part series on the long-term outlook for security issues in Pakistan, based on a secret roadmap for Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Pakistan prepared a year after 9/11 by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.

The U.S. Department of State accepted the veracity of the document, but accused him of committing security breach on its premises.

Joseph broke this story in DNA on 31 July 2005.

Several follow-ups followed.

It resulted in the arrest of many officers, stalled the Parliament and led to a CBI investigation.

The story of how national secrets were being smuggled out of the top secret War Room in South Block continues to have reverberations even today.

It resulted in a comprehensive upgrade of security in military installations.

Joseph received his master's degree in International Relations in 2007 from the Global Master of Arts Program (GMAP) at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.

Joseph's articles have featured in publications both in India and internationally.

He has reported the following stories:

In 2010–2011, Joseph revealed several crucial aspects of the conspiracy involved in allotting costly 2G cellular spectrum to select businesses at throwaway prices.

Among those he exposed were the country's Attorney General of India and one of India's richest businessmen, Anil Ambani.

Joseph's investigations into misdeeds, including kickbacks, front companies floated by alleged criminals, and compromises in construction and venue qualities, in the lead-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, led to a public outcry.

He exposed senior ruling Congress party leader and chairman of the games organizing committee, Suresh Kalmadi, and many of India's leading sports administrators, who were later arrested and subjected to criminal investigations.

Joseph's investigation in 2010 into the construction of the Adarsh highrise apartment complex in downtown Mumbai for war widows and battle heroes revealed that the apartments were being allotted to military chiefs, political leaders, and well-connected bureaucrats.

The story provoked a massive outcry and the repercussions were immediate: Maharashtra state's powerful chief minister, Ashok Chavan, whose relatives were among the apartment owners, was sacked; three ex-military chiefs publicly gave up their apartments to atone for their actions.

The details of the surgical strike, executed on 30 August 2011, were published in The Hindu—along with official documents, video and photographic evidence.

Major General S.K. Chakravorty (Retd), who planned and executed the operation as the chief of Kupwara-based 28 Division, confirmed the raid to The Hindu.

2011: The Prem Bhatia Memorial Trust selected Josy Joseph for 'Outstanding Political Reporting of The Year ', for a series of investigative reports, including the Adarsh scam, several corrupt decisions in organising the Commonwealth Games, etc.

Starting in August 2013, Joseph ran a series of stories showing how members of the Indian Parliament and government employees were submitting forged flight tickets to claim reimbursement, in what is now called the "leave travel concession" (LTC) scam.

Many Members of Parliament and dozens of government employees are currently under criminal investigation, and the government has since revised its travel reimbursement policy.

The federal crime investigation agency arrested several people involved in the conspiracy and in December 2013, a judicial inquiry indicted four former chief ministers of Maharashtra, one of who was then the Union home minister, for allowing Adarsh to proceed in violation of existing rules.

Joseph's stories also led to the ouster of the president of India's principal political party, the BJP, in early 2013.

Joseph and his team revealed that Nitin Gadkari's Purti group received investments from over 100 companies, many of which were controlled by close aides, including his driver, his accountant, and close family.

Several investigative agencies are now probing the group for money laundering and other criminal acts.

In October 2016, Joseph along with Vijaita Singh, exposed the details of Operation Ginger, one of the deadliest cross-border surgical strikes carried out in Pakistan by the Indian Army.

In February 2018, Joseph with Khadija Sharife, in a joint investigation by The Hindu and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), exposed India's state-owned Bank of Baroda's crucial role in the financial machinations of South Africa's politically influential Gupta family, allowing them to move hundreds of millions of dollars originating in alleged dirty deals into offshore accounts [known as Gupta scandal], which resulted in the resignation of South African President Jacob Zuma.

In February 2018, Bank of Baroda gave notification to the South African Reserve Bank that it will be exiting the country.

In November 2019, Joseph raised commitments for a seed-funding round from Accel founder Jim Swartz, among other high net-worth individuals, for his digital media startup, Confluence Media.

London-based journalist and filmmaker Adrian Levy is part of the startup's core team.

The startup, owned by Confluence Online Ventures, is headquartered in Delhi with offices in Mumbai and London, and aims to create an investigative journalism and real life events based IP (intellectual property) across verticals such as books, feature films, documentaries, web series, and podcasts.

It plans to first establish and create revenue streams for some of the early IPs; and, subsequently, launch a news website for investigative stories.

Confluence Media is currently in the process of negotiating and concluding IP-driven contracts with publishers and production houses in India and overseas.