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Zee editors' bail plea hearing deferred till Dec 3

Last Updated 01 December 2012, 20:22 IST

A Delhi court on Saturday deferred the bail plea hearing of Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business editor Samir Ahluwalia to December 3 due to the absence of an investigating officer and a public prosecutor despite prior information.

Chaudhary and Ahluwalia, both in judicial custody, are lodged at Tihar Jail. They were arrested over the allegations of trying to extort Rs 100 crore from industrialist and Congress MP Naveen Jindal’s company to block the broadcast of a negative story over coal block allocation.Metropolitan magistrate Gaurav Rao also sought a notice from deputy commissioner of police (crime and railways) S B S Tyagi to explain the lapse.

“Why were the investigating officer and public prosecutor not available despite a prior information from this court? Let a written explanation be filed by the deputy commissioner of police concerned,” Rao said.

Defence counsel for the editors — Rebecca M John and Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) — advocate Ramesh Gupta were present.

Rao also said arguments on the bail plea would now be heard on December 3. Fresh application from Chaudhary and Ahluwalia came after their initial plea was dismissed on November 28.The Saket court had on Friday remanded the duo to a 14-day judicial custody till December 14.

It has come to light that the two accused have admitted that an advertisement agreement handed over to JSPL to secure a deal was drafted by them. Sources said the duo has also told police that Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra was allegedly aware of the agreement.

Jindal alleges that Chaudhary and Ahluwalia told his company’s representatives that if they did not spend Rs 100 crore on advertising, they would air stories on his involvement in the coal scam and as to how his company was allocated coal fields.The Congress MP had earlier showed tapes purportedly recorded in a sting operation alleging that the channel tried to blackmail his company.

Police arrested the two men on Tuesday evening after forensic experts submitted a report stating that footage submitted by Jindal as evidence was not doctored.

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(Published 01 December 2012, 11:00 IST)

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