Jindal extortion case: Zee News editors sent to judicial custody

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Nov 30, 2012: The two senior editors of Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia, were on Friday sent to judicial custody till December 14 in connection with the extortion case involving Jindal Steel Private Limited. The duo has filed a second bail plea that will come up for hearing on Saturday.

Chaudhary and Ahluwalia were accused by Congress MP Naveen Jindal of demanding Rs 100 crore from his company, the Jindal Group, in order to not run stories of the coal blocks allocations controversy involving the company.

Meanwhile, three other top officials from Zee News, including CEO Puneet Goenka and Jawahar Goel, have joined investigations after they were served notices by the Delhi Police Crime Branch. The police had earlier sent a notice to Zee Group head Subhash Chandra too. However, his legal team claimed that he can join the probe only after December 5.

The network ran into controversy after the Jindal Group filed an FIR in October alleging that Zee News tried to extort Rs 100 crore from the steel company to drop some negative stories against it.

Courtesy: CNN IBN