Dhanbad Police Arrests News 11 Bharat Owner for Extortion & Criminal Conspiracy

An FIR was lodged against Arup Chatterjee on 27 June under 10 sections of the IPC at Govindpur police station.

Arup Chatterjee.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

Dhanbad police, on Sunday, 17 July, arrested Arup Chatterjee, owner of a regional Hindi News channel News 11 Bharat, under the charges of extortion, blackmailing, and criminal conspiracy.

A First Information Report (FIR) was lodged on 27 June under 10 sections of the Indian Penal Code at Govindpur police station on the complaint of a business person Rakesh Kumar, 40.

Speaking to the press after his arrest, Chatterjee said, "In Dhanbad, coal theft worth around Rs 2,000 crore has been carried out. We unearthed the scam and and will continue to do so… I am not afraid of jail…. I am not a criminal."

The Complaint Against Arup Chatterjee

Rakesh Kumar has accused Arup of causing him mental stress and threatening him with calls from various numbers in the FIR. He has accused News 11 Bharat of broadcasting a fake news video against him. Kumar has alleged that Arup tried to extort Rs 11 lakh from him through a news reporter in his team.

"When I said no, I was asked to look at the state of other businessmen who refused to give in. If you don't want to be ruined, give my reporter whatever you can right now. After several threats I gave the reporter Rs 6 lakh," said the FIR, "despite this they ran the fake video again."

Arup Chatterjee with the police

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

The FIR has been registered under sections 193, 386, 387, 418, 420, 468, 469, 500, 503 and 120B. Chatterjee has now been arrested and investigations are underway.

The Case of Zee News Anchor Rohit Ranjan 

In an earlier case, Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan was arrested by Noida Police on 5 July in connection with airing misleading clips about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and was subsequently released on bail as the sections against him were bailable offences.

Cases against him were filed in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

On 2 June, Ranjan allegedly misquoted video statement on the Udaipur incident by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and had subsequently corrected himself and apologised on television.

The Congress alleged that Ranjan had distorted the statement of party leader Rahul Gandhi in his special TV news segment, which they said tarnished Gandhi's image.