In connection with the sting operation case which has sparked a major row in the State, the chief executive officer of the news channel Samachar Plus Umesh Sharma has been sent to 15 days’ judicial custody by the court of additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) on Monday. Earlier, he was produced in the court of ACJN III Rinki Sinha amid tight security by police. In the court, Sharma pleaded for himself and said that he was being falsely implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy. He also raised the issue of his security and claimed that his life was under threat. The Government counsel Alpana Thapa refuted his charges and demanded his remand under judicial custody. After hearing out both the sides, ACJM III Sinha sent Sharma to judicial custody till November 8.
Notably, Sharma had been arrested during a joint operation of the Uttarakhand police and Uttar Pradesh (UP) police on Sunday from his Indirapuram-based residence in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. The police team had claimed to have recovered Rs 39 lakh in cash, some foreign currency and equipment used in sting operations. Besides, a large number of CDs, hard disks and other items had also been confiscated from his house.
Speaking of the case, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dehradun, Nivedita Kukreti said that FIR has been lodged against the suspended registrar of Ayurveda University Mrityunjay Mishra and three other employees of the news channel, now embroiled in the row. The police are investigating their role in the conspiracy, she added.
On August 10, Ayush Gaur, the editor investigation of the news channel Samachar Plus, had filed a complaint against his CEO Umesh Sharma, Mrityunjay Mishra and three others at Rajpur police station of Dehradun following which cases under section 386, 388 and 120 B had been registered against them.