Special Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma framed charges against Vasudevan, Company Secretary of a Hindi daily Manoj Kumar Banthia, Ankur Chawla, Vikas Shukla and Harshvardhan Lodha, a chartered accountant, under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
They have also been charged with the offence of criminal conspiracy under the IPC.
All the five accused have pleaded not not guilty and preferred to stand trial.
The proceedings against Atul Maheshwari, who was Managing Director of the daily, have abated following his death.
The court found prima facie evidence to proceed with the trial of Vasudevan and others saying that the telephone conversations recorded by CBI showed that he had accepted the bribe which was recovered from his house during the probe.
It also observed that intercepted conversations were very crucial
