Probe officer biased: Zee chief to Shinde

Zee News Chairman Subhash Chandra has written to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde stating that the FIRs registered in the Jindal -Zee extortion case are “false” and that the officer of the rank of Special Commissioner of Police in the Delhi Police, investigating the matter, is “close” to the Jindal family thereby adding to the chances that the investigation could be “biased” and “one-sided”.

In his letter dated July 15, Chandra wrote: “The FIRs filed by the Delhi Police are false and forged and cannot have taken place without state support. The investigation by the Delhi Police is one-sided against Zee News and its officials and to falsely implicate even Directors and family members of promoters”.

“It has come to our notice that apart from state support, one Mr Dharmendra Kumar, Special Commissioner, Delhi Police, is forcing his juniors to show falsely that Zee group is on the wrong side. We have also come to know that he has relationship with the Jindal family for about 20 years… Sir in such circumstances, we cannot expect a fair and just investigation by the Delhi Police as the investigation is being supervised by an officer who is interested in the matter and therefore the same is bound to be biased. We also maintain that the FIRs themselves are false and with the motive to tame and defame a reputed Media House. You are requested to please order the Police Commissioner to give charge to some other officer instead of Sh. Dharmendra Kumar. This will go a long way to find out the truth”.

Rejecting the allegations, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said, “The allegations that the FIRs were forged does not hold ground. Based on the FIR, we arrested Zee employees Sudhir Chaudhary and Sameer Ahluwalia following which they were sent to judicial custody. The case has withstood judicial scrutiny.” He said the allegations are an after-thought since no objections were raised earlier.

“The reference made to the senior police officer’s closeness to the family are untrue. Nothing could be farther from the truth,” said Neeraj Kumar.

(Courtesy – The Indian Express)