New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of two Zee News editors facing charges of extortion bid against Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal's Jindal Steel Power Limited (JSPL). The duo, Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia, was accused by Jindal of trying to extort Rs 100 crore from the company to not air negative stories over its alleged involvement in the coal blocks allocations controversy.
Metropolitan Magistrate Rajinder Singh dismissed the bail pleas saying Zee News head Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business Editor Samir Ahluwalia have not given any new ground for their release on bail in the fresh application after dismissal of their first ones on November 28. "Investigation is at a preliminary stage and there is no change of facts and circumstances since November 28 and the bail application had been dismissed by the duty magistrate earlier on November 28....and no fresh ground have come up to release them on bail. Hence, in my considered opinion, the bail (plea) is dismissed," the court said.
"The dismissal of bail application does preclude the accused from moving successive bail applications," it added. During the hearing on the bail applications, Special Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan argued that the accused persons have no right to move a fresh bail plea as their similar applications had been dismissed by a magistrate on November 28 when they were first remanded in police custody for two days.
Mohan argued the two editors should not be given bail as
08:21 PM, Dec 03, 2012
