Zee editors denied bail, sent to two-day police custody

[1983-2011]

New Delhi: The bail pleas of two senior editors of Zee News accused of attempting to extort Rs. 100 crore from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's company was today rejected by a Delhi court, which remanded them in two-day police custody. Sudhir Chaudhary, head of Zee News, and Samir Ahluwalia, Editor of Zee Business, who were arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's group for not broadcasting news reports on coal scam linking his firm, were produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha, who accepted police's plea for their custodial interrogation. The Prosecution had said their custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth the conspiracy and the alleged complicity of channel's chairman Subhash Chandra and its MD Punit Goenka, who are also named as accused in the case. The duo will now be produced before the court on November 30. Chaudhary and Ahluwalia were arrested last night on the complaint by Jindal's company filed in October. Both the journalists 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 IPC. Earlier, before the court proceedings, Jindal group in a statement said law was taking its own course and called it unfortunate that Zee TV has come out with a comment that the arrest of its editors in the case was a Black Day for the media. "Zee TV's comment that the arrest of its editors is a Black Day for the media is unfortunate. The arrest of the two journalists being termed Black Day is rather demeaning the credibility of the media. Instead, Black Day was the day when these editors tried to extort 100 crore rupees from Jindal group under the garb of media," the statement said.

http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-zee-editors-denied-bail-sent-to-two-day-police-custody-313958

[Raghav_12]

On the face of it, Zee journalists look complicit in the crime. But still I don't see much reasoning behind arrest. As long as these journalists were helping police in their investigation and there was no apprehension of these people going in hiding, arrests were not warranted. Looks another case of police highhandedness.