Subhash Chandra, and his son Punit Goenka, potentially face arrest next week over allegations of extortion of Rs 1 billion by members of their staff.  On December 6th a Delhi court granted the two executives interim protection from arrest until December 14th. The Chandras run the Zee broadcasting empire.  They are appearing before Delhi police on December 8th and allegedly face accusations that they are involved in the extortion case. Their passports have been deposited with the court.

Chandra and Goenka formally applied for anticipatory bail on December 5th, pending the various hearings. Their counsel, senior advocate Vijay Aggarwal and Geeta Luthra, appearing for the father-son, had contended that their clients are ready to cooperate with the investigation.

The case involves allegations made by a Congress (party) member of parliament, Naveen Jindal, who claims that two employees of Zee News attempted to extort advertising from Jindal’s company. The two staff members directly accused, Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia, are being held in custody.

The basis of the allegations revolve around a DVD which purportedly shows the two accused trying to strike a deal for advertising and promising that Zee News would not air negative reports on the Jindal Group if the advertising was booked.

Categories: Articles, People, Policy, Regulation