AFTER JINDAL GROUP’S SALVO, COPS BOOK CASE AGAINST ZEE

Reacting to the charges of cheating and forgery filed by the Delhi police crime branch, Zee counsel Vijay Aggarwal claimed that the “FIR is a counteroffensive to investigation ordered by the court to be conducted by SHO, Tughlaq Road. The contents of the FIR are a figment of the imagination, mala fide and oppressive.”

The Zee chairman has also come under the scanner following a complaint lodged by the Jindal group that it tried to extort `100 crores from the company “for not running a negative news story”.

A sting operation, which later went viral, showed that two senior editors of the channel were allegedly trying to arm-twist the Jindal group on the issue.

Zee had also filed a petition seeking a direction to the CBI to lodge an FIR against Congress MP Naveen Jindal for allegedly trying to “influence” the hearing before the News Broadcasting Standards Authority in connection with the alleged extortion bid case. A Delhi court, however, dismissed Zee News Ltd’s plea.

It may be recalled that Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business editor Samir Ahluwalia were arrested on November 27, 2012, on a complaint by the Jindal group, which had alleged that they had demanded `100 crores as an advertising deal for not airing negative news against the firm in connection with the coal block allocation scandal. They were later granted bail by the court on December 17.