Court dismisses defamation case against Naveen Jindal

A court here has dismissed a defamation case filed against Congress lawmaker Naveen Jindal and others by Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary.

Metropolitan Magistrate Dheeraj Mittal, in an order made available Wednesday, dismissed the defamation case against Jindal and others saying that the statement made by the accused cannot be said to be defamatory in nature.

The court was hearing a plea by Chaudhary seeking action against Jindal and others for allegedly making a false statement against him at a press conference.

Chaudhary alleged that Jindal in the press conference Oct 25, 2012, made a false statement which tarnished his image.

"This court is of opinion that the statements made by the accused in the press conference were not made with criminal intent/knowledge of harming the reputation of the complainant.

"Rather they were in the form of information regarding the incidents/events that had taken place between the complainant and the accused people," the magistrate said in an order delivered last week.

Chaudhary with Zee News business editor Samir Ahluwalia have been booked in a case for their alleged role in attempting to "extort" Rs.100 crore from Jindal's company in exchange for not filing news reports linking his firm to the coal blocks allocation.

Jindal had released a CD which purportedly showed footage in which the Zee editors were trying to strike a deal with his company officials, telling them that their TV news channel would not air negative stories on the Jindal Group if the money was paid to them.