The relaunch of Tehelka as a weekend tabloid newspaper should send shivers down the spine of the Indian Government, particularly as it gears up for the forthcoming general election - in its previous incarnation as a website, Tehelka conducted a sensational sting operation, exposing corruption at the highest levels of the Government and, most memorably, capturing it all on film.
Since those heady days, Tehelka has fared less well. The Government responded by conducting two years worth of tax raids and investigations, bringing the website to its knees and suggesting a Governmental agenda of revenge.
Now, though, Tehelka is back, guided by longtime editor Tarun Tejpal.
Styling itself as 'the people's paper', the publication relaunched in January this year.
"We are positioning as a cross between a daily English newspaper and a weekly English news magazine," said Sharma. "We are bothered with what is current, relevant and important."
To this end, the newspaper continues its campaign for 'free, fair and fearless press', although Sharma notes that it will cover more than just corruption.
The publication has also hit upon a unique method of raising funds and increasing community involvement, by offering founder subscriptions for about US$2,205 to a range of Indian luminaries. To date, Nobel Prize winner V S Naipaul and Bollywood heartthrob Shah Rukh Khan have signed up as founder subscribers.
"But their status at the end of the day remains as that of a subscriber and not an investor," said Sharma. "We want to stay independent, and not align either to a business house or a political party."
In terms of advertising, Sharma admits that, "the initial apprehension was there ... (but) the sales response has been phenomenal. This is the only publication that enables reach to the opinion makers in the country".
MindShare India managing director Ashutosh Srivastava agrees. "It is very attractive to advertisers, because of its profile and the kind of people who are getting it and reading it," said Srivastava. "There are, though, some advertisers who will shy away from anything controversial."
While Tehelka is currently targeted at English readers, Sharma confirmed that local-language versions will soon begin to appear.
"Eventually we will expand to reach larger numbers and we will come out with other language versions - Hindi, and various other vernacular."