Zee chairman to soon join police probe: Lawyer

New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) Zee News chairman Subhash Chandra would soon join the probe into allegations that two journalists of his news channel tried to extort Rs.100 crore from industrialist and Congress MP Naveen Jindal’s company, the firm’s lawyer said Friday.

“Chandra is out of the country. But he will join the probe soon,” R.K. Handoo, senior lawyer of the Supreme Court and representative of Zee News told IANS.

“He has nothing to hide. He may join the probe at any time,” Handoo said.

Police had served notice on Chandra Wednesday (Nov 28), asking him to join the probe after the arrest of Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business editor Samir Ahluwalia following complaints by Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) claiming that money was sought to block the airing of a negative story on coal block allocations.

According to police, Chandra is one of the accused in the case, as he knew about the dealings between his employees and Jindal’s company.

“We are waiting for him to join the investigation,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Railways) S.B.S. Tyagi.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police had called a few more employees of Zee News in connection with the case.

“Yesterday (Thursday) a couple of employees were questioned,” Tyagi said.

Police sources said questioning was conducted on the basis of call details of the two journalists who were arrested following the charges.

The notice was served to Chandra after an analysis of call data records allegedly showed that Chaudhary and Ahluwalia had spoken to Chandra immediately after their first meeting with Jindal Steel Power Ltd representatives at Hyatt Regency Hotel.

IANS 2012-11-30 15:00:15