New Delhi:
A Delhi court today asked the Delhi Police to investigate the defamation complaint filed against Congress Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal and 16 others by Zee News Editor Sudhir Chaudhary who had alleged that "false allegations" were levelled against him to tarnish his image.
Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja directed the Station House Officer (SHO) of Tuglak Road police station to probe the role of Mr Jindal and other officials of his firm Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) who are named in the complaint filed by Mr Chaudhary.
"Keeping in view the fact that 15 out of 17 accused are residing outside the territorial jurisdiction of this court like Tuglak Road and the fact that the law laid down in section 202 of the CrPC... it is directed that SHO, PS Tuglak Road (or his deputy), shall conduct an investigation qua the allegations made in the complaint," the court said.
It also said the SHO would "investigate the role of each of the respondents qua (relating) to the two cause of actions described in the complaint" and the police "shall file the investigation report within four weeks from today."
It also ordered police to seize the minutes of the meetings and other documents of the Broadcast Editors Association (BEA) regarding "termination of the membership of the complainant (Mr Chaudhary) and removal from the post of Treasurer, BEA."
The court fixed the matter for further proceedings on February 15.
Mr Chaudhary, who filed his complaint through his counsel Vijay Aggarwal, had earlier said Mr Jindal and JSPL officials had made "deliberately false" statements and registered a "false case" against him in the alleged Rs 100-crore extortion bid case and defamed him by levelling allegations against him at a press conference in Delhi.