New Delhi:
Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandra has been granted permission to consult his doctors before undergoing the lie detector test in the Rs 100-crore extortion case against his TV channel's two editors. Zee News head Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business Editor Ahluwalia have declined to undergo lie detector tests and will only be giving their voice samples for tests.
A Delhi court today granted permission to the police to collect voice sample of Mr Ahluwalia and mr Chaudhary. However, they will not be allowed to conduct lie detector tests on the two as Mr Ahluwalia and Mr Chaudhary have declined to undergo the test. A polygraph test will be conducted on Mr Chandra after his doctors consultation and permission.
Mr Chandra and his son Punit Goenka have been questioned twice by the police. Mr Chandra has said he will file a defamation case against Mr Jindal.
Mr Chaudhary and Mr Ahluwalia were arrested on November 27 for allegedly trying to extort Rs. 100 crore from Congress parliamentarian Naveen Jindal's company Jindal Steel Private Limited (JSPL). In return, they allegedly offered to bury news reports linking JSPL to the coal allocation scam.
The two are presently lodged in Tihar jail and will remain in judicial custody till December 22. The Zee News Editors were sent to the judicial custody are presently lodged in Tihar jail. They have been booked under section 384 (extortion), 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Zee Group has condemned the arrests of their employees and demanded their immediate release. It also denied the allegations against the two journalists, and said that the arrests are politically motivated.