Court reserves order on plea for lodging FIR against Jindal

New Delhi, Jan 15: A Delhi

on Monday, Jan 14 reserved its order on a plea by

for direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (

) to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) against

MP Naveen Jindal for allegedly trying to "influence" the hearing before News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) in connection with the alleged extortion bid case. The matter will be taken up on Jan 16 next.

Special CBI Judge Dharmesh Sharma reserved the order after hearing arguments of advocate Vijay Aggarwal, who appeared for Zee News.

"Arguments have been heard. Put up for order on Jan 16," the court said.

During the hearing on the plea against Jindal, his firm Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and its various officials, Mr Aggarwal alleged that the Congress MP had called the NBSA Chairman JS Verma, who is a retired Chief Justice of India, and had tried to influence him.

He said his client is seeking direction to the CBI to lodge an FIR in this matter as the agency is probing the recent coal allocation case.

In its application, Zee News Limited had claimed that during the hearing, the NBSA chairman had himself "revealed that Naveen Jindal, Member of Parliament, had telephoned him prior to the hearing to influence/pressurise him for an order favourable to accused number one (Jindal) and his company."

The TV channel had alleged that the MP had abused his position as a public servant by "telephonically" contacting the NBSA chairman to "influence" him in connection with the hearing of a complaint filed by the firm against the news channel and its officials.

According to the application, Mr Jindal, along with others, had allegedly committed offences under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code, including section 120-B (criminal conspiracy).

Extortion bid: Zee Group Chairman allowed to go abroad

Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandra, who is facing probe in a case of alleged bid of extortion of Rs 100 crore from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's firm by two editors of the news channel, has been allowed by a Delhi court to stay abroad till Jan 26.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mukesh Sharma, who had allowed Chandra earlier to visit Dubai and London, extended his foreign stay saying he would inform the probe agency within 24 hours after his return to India.

Chandra had sought court's permission to extend his stay abroad till Jan 26 instead of Jan 16.

Earlier, the court had allowed him to travel overseas on business matter from Dec 30, 2012 to Jan 16, 2013.

The order allowing extension of his stay was passed on Jan 11.

"As accused had earlier also cooperated with the investigating agency in investigation... the permission is granted to Chandra....," the court said.

PTI