The Jharkhand Police have arrested a news channel owner for alleged extortion, blackmailing and criminal conspiracy. The arrested news channel owner has been identified as Arup Chatterjee, who runs a local TV channel, News 11 Bharat.
A police complaint was filed against Chatterjee on 27 June under IPC Sections 193, 386, 387, 418, 420, 468, 469, 500, 503 120B at Govindpur Police Station on a complaint by businessman Rakesh Kumar.
In his complaint, Kumar had alleged that Chatterjee demanded Rs 11 lakh from him after running false news about the businessman on his TV channel. The businessman alleged that Chatterjee demanded more money through his reporter even after Rs 11 lakh was paid to him. The news channel owner allegedly threatened the businessman of dire consequences.
The Dhanbad Police had arrived in Ranchi to arrest after a court issued a warrant against Chatterjee. Dhanbad SSP Sanjeev Kumar said that he had formed a special team headed by DSP Amar Kumar Pandey to travel to Ranchi to arrest Chatterjee.
News 11 Bharat said it condemned the arrest of Chatterjee. “We condemn the arrest of senior journalist Arup Chatterjee of News 11 Bharat by the state administration from his residence as retaliation for showing the news of corruption, coal smuggling, and illegal mining in Jharkhand.”