[1]Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Thursday filed a defamation case against Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari for alleging that Mr Gadkari had a benami flat in the controversial Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai. The Esplanade court has fixed a date of January 24, 2011 to hear the case.
After the Adarsh Housing Society scam came to light, Mr Tewari in a press conference had alleged that Ajay Sancheti — an associate of Mr Gadkari and a member of the BJP national executive — has a benami flat in the Adarsh Housing Society in the name of his driver.
Mr Gadkari filed the defamation complaint under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC against Mr Tewari.
In his petition before the court, Mr Gadkari has stated that the Congress was aggrieved and annoyed at him for highlighting several critical aspects of the Adarsh Housing Society scam and bringing to the notice of the public how corruption had eroded the Congress.
“Mr Tewari had to face a barrage of uncomfortable questions from media daily. So in order to gain immediate media attention and in order to harm my clean and impeccable reputation, he intentionally indulged in defaming me by making false and malicious imputations against me,” Mr Gadkari has stated in the petition.
“These are unfounded assertions of a beleaguered spokesperson of the ruling party discredited by corrupt practices,” Mr Gadkari added. The BJP leader also clarified in his complaint that he neither owns nor has any interest in any flat in the Adarsh society.
Earlier on November 14, Mr Gadkari had served a legal notice to the Congress spokesperson asking him to apologise within 72 hours for making defamatory comments against Mr Gadkari in the Adarsh housing scam. The notice had stated that the BJP president would move the court if Mr Tewari fails to apologise.
The court has directed Mr Tewari to file his reply before the next hearing.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/indjpg-733