Zee News CEO Alok Agarwal addresses a press conference over the arrest of two senior journalists of Zee News last evening in connection with a sting operation that was carried out by steel tycoon and Congress MP Naveen Jindal who accused the channel of extortion.

Sudhir Chaudhary, the head of Zee News, and Samir Ahluwalia, the head of Zee Business, were arrested on Tuesday evening by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police following the registration of an extortion case about 45 days ago on a complaint by Jindal's company.

The MP has alleged that the channel had tried to extort Rs. 100 crore in exchange for not airing unfavourable stories linking him and his group to the recent coal scam. The journalists will be produced in a court in Saket today. Read more

Agarwal said that the journalists were arrested to deflect action against coal block allocation scam and that it was in fact Jindal who offered money to the editors to buy their silence. "The arrest of our journalists are illegal and Naveen Jindal tried to bribe Zee executives," insists Agarwal.