News channel owner held on charges of extortion, sent to judicial custody

The owner of a private news channel here, who has been arrested on charges of extortion, was on Sunday sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a court here.

A special team of the Dhanbad Police had on Saturday night arrested the news channel owner from Ranchi's Kanke Road on a non-bailable warrant, based on a complaint filed by coal trader.

He was brought to Dhanbad and produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate Vivek Raj, who sent him to 14-day judicial custody.

The complainant, who is a close relative of a retired IPS officer, claimed that the news channel owner along with another coal trader had been demanding money from him.

He also said that he had paid Rs 6 lakh initially, but the channel still aired “fake news” about his Govindpur-based factory.

The news channel owner was interrogated for hours before being produced in the court, police sources said. Efforts are underway to nab the other accused in the case, they added.