New Delhi: Congress MP Naveen Jindal has filed a criminal case against Zee TV, alleging that that he was asked for cash to stop them from airing a negative story on him.
In a dramatic press conference, claimed that Zee News and Zee Business had broadcast a story which showed him in a negative light, and the corporate communications team from his company had attempted to get in touch with officials from the channel.
In a meeting held in September, the officials from the channel met with the corporate communications team where they initially demanded Rs 20 crore, Jindal said.
AFP
They subsequently upped the demand to Rs 100 crore, he said.
“There were more meetings and the Zee news officials demanded Rs 100 crore at a meeting in a coffee bar in New Delhi and said that we must have heard the original demand wrong,” Jindal said.
The MP said that his company’s budget for advertising with the media, particularly television news, was much lower than Rs 20 crore since they were in the business of steel manufacture and power generation.
“They threatened to continue broadcasting defamatory material if we did not make the payments,” he said.
The press conference witnessed its share of drama with a wheelchair bound person alleging that the Congress MP was involved in the murder of a man in Chhattisgarh. Jindal claimed that the men were attempting to disrupt the press conference to divert attention from his allegations.
Jindal said that after consultations with his team they decided to file an FIR with the Delhi police, and filed a case of extortion.
“When on 19 October Zee News began broadcasting that we were attempting to blackmail them we decided to make material public,” he said.
Disclaimer: Firstpost is published by Network 18 which competes with the Zee broadcasting company
