Delhi court grants bail to Zee editors

New

, Dec 17: A Delhi

on Monday granted

to two Zee group editors who were arrested following an extortion complaint filed by Congress MP and owner of Jindal Power and Steel Ltd, Naveen Jindal. Additional Sessions judge Raj Rani Mitra granted bail to the duo and asked them to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each and surety amounting the same.

The two journalists, Sudhir Chaudhary, head of Zee News, and Samir Ahluwalia, head of Zee Business, were accused of demanding Rs 100 crore from Jindal's firm in the form of advertisements to their channel. They were booked under Sections 384 (extortion), 120(b)(criminal conspiracy) and 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The police also charged them under Section 420 (cheating) before the arrest.

On Sunday, the judge had said after hearing the arguments on the third bail pleas of the duo for five hours that the order would be given on both the bail applications on Monday. Their counsel, RN Mittal, Sunil Mittal and Vijay Aggarwal, said the records of the two journalists were "unimpeachable" and that their bail could be rejected only if the prosecution proved that they were facing trial in other criminal cases. They said the courts should release them by imposing befitting conditions for they their clients had wives and children to look after.

Public Prosecutor Rajiv Menon, however, opposed the application and said that each of the accused had played a big role in commissioning of the offence. They also said that the duo might tamper with the evidence if they were released on bail.

OneIndia News