Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal on Thursday met Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi and requested him to speed up the investigation in connection with an extortion case registered against the owners and senior editors of Zee media group on his complaint.
Nearly two years ago, Mr. Jindal had released video recordings which allegedly showed Zee editors trying to extort Rs.100 crore in return for the channel not airing damaging stories on coal block allocations involving his company. The Delhi Police Crime Branch had subsequently filed a case against the group.
Alleging that the channels of Zee network were repeatedly airing news reports in a bid to tarnish his image, Mr. Jindal demanded a ban on airing of such reports.
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He added that on November 10, the Supreme Court had dismissed a Special Leave Petition filed by the Sudhir Chaudhary, the editor and business head of the Zee media group, and directed the police to file a supplementary charge sheet in the case.
“My firm Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) has been a victim of criminal conspiracy, extortion, blackmailing and cheating which is why I demand that a supplementary charge sheet be filed,” he said.
After the meeting, Mr. Bassi said the Delhi Police would take all appropriate action and that Mr. Jindal had handed over a copy of the Supreme Court order to him. “We will examine the order and take appropriate action,” he said.
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Reacting to Mr. Jindal’s statement, a representative of the Zee media group said that the former MP’s statement was a misinterpretation of the Supreme Court order and incorrect facts had been given. “We will be taking appropriate action under law,” he said.