NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Union of India, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. and the Delhi Government on a petition by Zee News Limited (ZNL) praying for quashing of three FIRs, including the alleged extortion case, against the group and its editors.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, asked for the response within four weeks.

The bench issued notice to them on another Zee Group plea which questioned the Centre?s showcause notice issued to it for airing a programme in which the news channel revealed the identity of the male friend and eye witness of the gangrape case on 16 December. The Centre had asked Zee to explain why its licence should not be terminated.

The Zee petition, which has been listed after four weeks, also seeks a stay of an Information and Broadcasting Ministry notice/communication of 31 January "to protect the Petitioners from unconstitutional state action violative of the Fundamental Right of the Petitioners under Article 19(1)(a)".

Earlier last month, the Delhi Court had taken cognizance of a defamation complaint against Congress MP Naveen Jindal and others and asked the Delhi Police to probe the role of Jindal and 16 other officials of his firm Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) who are named in the complaint filed by Zee News Editor Sudhir Chaudhary.

Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja asked the Station House Officer of the Tughlak Road in south Delhi to seize the minutes of meetings and other documents of Broadcast Editors Association (BEA) regarding termination of the membership of Chaudhary.

The Police had been asked to give a report within a month and the case listed for further hearing on 15 February.

Chaudhary had alleged that "false allegations" were leveled against him to tarnish his image.

"Keeping in view the fact that 15 out of 17 accused are residing outside the territorial jurisdiction of this court - PS Tuglak Road - and the law laid down in section 202 of the CrPC, it is directed that SHO, PS Tuglak Road (or his deputy) shall conduct an investigation qua the allegations made in the complaint," the court said.

It also said the SHO would investigate the role of each of the respondents relating to the two cause of actions described in the complaint.

Chaudhary, who filed his complaint through Zee News Ltd. counsel Vijay Aggarwal, had earlier said Jindal and JSPL officials had made "deliberately false" statements and registered a "false case" against him in the alleged Rs one billion extortion bid case and defamed him by leveling allegations against him at a press conference here.

?The Crime Branch of Delhi Police was doing one-sided investigation,? said Aggarwal. "Here on, the investigation will be under direction of the court and seizure of documents too,? he added, saying ?now truth will come out.?

NEW DELHI: Taking cognizance of a defamation complaint against Congress MP Naveen Jindal and others, a Delhi court today asked the Delhi Police to probe the role of Jindal and 16 other officials of his firm Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) who are named in the complaint filed by Chaudhary.

Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja asked the Station House Officer of the Tughlak Road in south Delhi to seize the minutes of meetings and other documents of Broadcast Editors Association (BEA) regarding termination of the membership of Zee News Editor Sudhir Chaudhary.

The Police have been asked to give a report within a month and the case has been listed for further hearing on 15 February.

Chaudhary had alleged that "false allegations" were leveled against him to tarnish his image.

"Keeping in view the fact that 15 out of 17 accused are residing outside the territorial jurisdiction of this court - PS Tuglak Road - and the law laid down in section 202 of the CrPC, it is directed that SHO, PS Tuglak Road (or his deputy) shall conduct an investigation qua the allegations made in the complaint," the court said.

It also said the SHO would investigate the role of each of the respondents relating to the two cause of actions described in the complaint.

Chaudhary, who filed his complaint through Zee News Ltd. counsel Vijay Aggarwal, had earlier said Jindal and JSPL officials had made "deliberately false" statements and registered a "false case" against him in the alleged Rs One billion extortion bid case and defamed him by leveling allegations against him at a press conference here.

?The Crime Branch of Delhi Police was doing one-sided investigation,? said Vijay Aggarwal. "Here on, the investigation will be under direction of the court and seizure of documents too,? he added, saying ?now truth will come out.?

The court, in its order, directed the police to "seize the relevant pages of the minute book of JSPL covering the decisions of the management of JSPL referred in the letter dated 18 November 2012 issued by the Company Secretary of JSPL."

It also asked the police to seize the video recording of the press conference "allegedly held on 25 October 2012" by Jindal and others either from their office or from any TV news channel.

The magistrate also clarified that his order "shall not restrict the SHO, PS Tuglak Road, from conducting a full and through investigation" in the matter.

Chaudhary had earlier told the court that "in September 2012, a false case was registered against me at the behest of the respondents (Jindal and others) and they defamed me at different steps for which I have filed the present complaint."

In his statement, Chaudhary had said Jindal, along with others, had claimed in the press conference that BEA had removed him from the post of treasurer after considering his statement whereas he has never attended any such meeting.

Editor Samir Ahluwalia had also filed a separate criminal defamation complaint against Jindal and others in a court here.

MUMBAI: Zee News Ltd (ZNL) has alleged that investigations into the case against its editors were "one-sided" and has demanded JSPL promoter Naveen Jindal, his brother Prithvi Jindal and uncle Sitaram Jindal be interrogated.

ZNL?s counsel Vijay Aggarwal has moved an application invoking Section 156 of the CrPc alleging that Delhi Police conducted a ?one-sided investigation?. The counsel has also moved court asking it "to monitor the investigation as Delhi Police is focusing solely on the false complaint by Naveen Jindal".

The news channel has further demanded that all call records of all the phones used by Jindal and his relatives to contact the Zee News non-executive chairman should be seized.

The Zee News statement also said the counsel urged the court to instruct the investigating officer to compare contradictions in Jindal?s FIR of 2 October, 2012 and his petition filed in Bombay.

Meanwhile, Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra and the two Zee News editors were on Monday issued notices by a Delhi court seeking their response on the Delhi police?s plea for conducting a lie detector test on them.

Earlier on Sunday, Chandra had said that he would file a defamation case against the Jindals.

Zee News editors Sudhir Chaudhury and Samir Alhuwalia were arrested last month following a complaint by Jindal?s company alleging Rs 100 crore (1 billion) extortion bid in exchange of not running negative stories relating to JSPL?s alleged involvement in the coal blocks allocations controversy.

Also Read:
Chandra to file defamation case against Jindal

NEW DELHI: Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra and his son and Zee News managing director Punit Goenka were today granted interim protection from arrest by a Delhi court till 14 December in the Rs one billion alleged extortion complaint filed by Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal?s firm against two editors of Zee news channel.

Additional Sessions Judge Raj Rani Mitra said the question of extension of interim bail would be decided on 14 December.

The judge passed the order after hearing arguments on the anticipatory bail plea of Chandra and his son, in which their counsel pressed for interim protection from arrest for joining the investigation. They have been asked to appear before the Delhi Police on 8 December.

Senior advocate Geeta Luthra and Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for the duo, had contended that their clients are ready to join the probe if the police give them the assurance that the two will not be arrested during the time of interrogation. "We (Chandra and Goenka) will join the investigation as has been asked by the police for 8 December and even before, if required.

"But, if the police decides to arrest us, then it should give at least five days? time so that we can argue the matter at length on some other day," the counsel argued. They had also said that their clients should be granted protection so that they can join the probe without fear of arrest.

Special Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan opposed their plea saying, "We cannot commit or assure that they (Chandra and his son) will not be arrested. The moment we get a lead of the alleged extortion made on behalf of Zee Group by their two editors, we will arrest them."

The prosecutor contended that the investigation till now and the evidence point towards the alleged involvement of Chandra and Goenka in the whole conspiracy.

He also said the two jailed editors (Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia) have not acted alone and that the whole episode was planned in collusion with the seniors of the Zee group in a conspiracy hatched to extort Rs 100 crore for their channel.

Both Chaudhary and Ahluwalia, presently lodged in Tihar jail, have been booked under section 384 (extortion), 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code.

A Delhi court had on 28 November rejected the bail plea of ZNL editors, Sudhir Chaudhary (Zee News) and Samir Ahluwalia (Zee Business), and sent them to two-day police custody till 30 November.

Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia were arrested on 27 November on charges of extortion by the crime branch of Delhi Police on an FIR filed by a JSPL official last month.

The company alleged that ZNL editors Chaudhary and Ahluwalia had demanded Rs 1 billion worth of advertisements from the company in return for favourable coverage in the scam involving allotment of coal blocks, wherein JSPL is one of the companies that allegedly made windfall gains from arbitrary coal block allocations.

Earlier, the Broadcast Editors? Association (BEA) had removed Zee News editor and business head Sudhir Chaudhary from the post of treasurer and primary membership of the body after a three-member committee set-up to probe the matter had found the two acting in an in-appropriate manner.The removal followed a sting operation carried out by Jindal?s company during meetings in a Delhi hotel.

The video recordings from a hidden camera purportedly showed Zee Business Editor Ahluwalia demanding money from Jindals in exchange for going soft on coverage of alleged involvement of Jindal?s firms in the coal scam.