Chargesheet filed against Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandra and two Zee editors

Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra and Zee editors Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia were named as accused and chargesheeted in a lower court in connection with the alleged Rs 100 crore extortion bid from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's firm, Jindal Steel and Power Limited.

According to a senior official of the crime branch, the chargesheet has been filed against the trio under various provisions of the IPC, including Sections 384 (extortion), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating). The 110-page-long chargesheet was filed in the court of chief metropolitan magistrate Amit Bansal.

Police said they had not found any evidence yet against either Chandra’s son and MD of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd Punit Goenka or his brother Jawahar Goel who too were suspected to be involved, however, the chargesheet emphasized that the probe was still underway.

Chaudhary and Ahluwalia were earlier arrested but they are on bail in the case filed by Congress MP Naveen Jindal's firm which accused Chandra and editors of his channel of trying to extort Rs 100 crore as the condition for stopping the telecast of reports allegedly meant to defame JSPL.

The chargesheet uses audio-video evidence, phone location details, hotel footage and phone calls between Chandra and his editors to build the case. "It is evident from their call data records that Ahluwalia and Sudhir Chaudhry also kept Subhash Chandra in the loop about the meetings with JSPL officials and their outcome. All three recordings provided by JSPL along with memory cards were sent to CFSL and it has been opined by experts that there is no tampering, editing, interpolation and discontinuity in the recordings," the chargesheet stated.

The investigations were based on telecast of news clippings against JSPL, meetings held to extort money at Hyatt Regency, analysis of transcripts and calls among others. "Further they demanded an exorbitant amount of Rs 25 crore per annum, which was eight times higher than their biggest advertisers. The call records show that the accused remained in constant touch with the complainant as well as with each other. They even destroyed vital pieces of evidence and thus committed the offence," the chargesheet said.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Bansal, in whose court the charge sheet was filed, has posted it on August 19 for consideration for taking cognisance.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/2935-chargesheet-filed-against-zee-group-chairman-subhash-chandra-and-two-zee-editors.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/2935-chargesheet-filed-against-zee-group-chairman-subhash-chandra-and-two-zee-editors.html