Gadkari files defamation case against Digvijaya

BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Monday approached the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Sudesh Kumar to file a criminal complaint against Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, alleging that the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister had made "false, baseless, scandalous and defamatory statements" which were widely circulated in the national media, "with malafide intention to lower the dignity and tarnish the public image" of the BJP chief.

Gadkari has petitioned court to "summon, prosecute and punish" the Congress leader for the criminal offence of defamation under Section 499 of the IPC.

Gadkari cited extracts from national publications where Singh was quoted as alleging that the BJP president was in a business partnership with Ajay Sancheti who had been allocated coal blocks, and had earned profits from the allocated blocks.

Refuting the statements, Gadkari told the court that the statements were deliberately made" to "divert the focus of public attention" from the "issue of illegal acts committed by the Central government as indicated by CAG reports".

The court has asked him to continue with his statement and evidence on October 16.

"The complainant has no business partnership with Ajay Sancheti nor has he received benefit of a single rupee by any allocation", said Gadkari's advocates Ajay Digpaul and Balendu Shekhar. Senior Advocate Pinki Anand also represented Gadkari before the court.

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