Zee News on Saturday said it has sent a defamation notice demanding Rs 150 crore in damages to Congress MP and industralist Naveen Jindal after he accused the news channel of extortion and blackmail.
In a statement, the channel said it condemned and rejected what it called the “doctored evidence produced by Jindal”. It also said that it saw it as a deliberate attempt to malign the television network. “Zee News has granted a three-day time period to Naveen Jindal to withdraw all his unsubstantiated and defamatory allegations against Zee News, failing which Jindal would face civil and criminal actions initiated by Zee News,” it said.
Earlier this week, Jindal had accused Zee News group of attempting to extort Rs 100 crore from the firm for not airing stories against it on coal block allocation. He had filed an FIR to this effect and also released a CD purportedly recording attempts by Zee editors to strike a deal with Jindal Steel.