The Delhi High Court on Monday issued summons to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in a defamation suit filed by former Union Minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar, over Tharoor’s statement alleging that Chandrasekhar offered money to voters during the Lok Sabha polls, 2024.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued summons and listed the matter before the joint registrar on April 28.
“Let the plaintiff be registered as a suit. Issue summons, returnable by April. List on April 28 before the joint registrar,” the Court ordered.
The defamation suit before the High Court was filed in December last year for a permanent injunction and damages against Tharoor on account of his allegedly defamatory statements in the interview.
Chandrasekhar alleged Tharoor defamed him by making false and derogatory imputations on national television, saying he was bribing voters in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency. He claimed Tharoor made the allegations with the intent to lower his reputation and to affect the result of the last general elections, knowing fully well the statements were false.
“The interview was published by various news channels as well as on social media platforms at the behest of the proposed accused and resulted in loss of reputation of the complainant in society, which ultimately resulted in the complainant losing the Lok Sabha Elections, 2024”, the complaint reads.
A criminal defamation suit was also filed by Chandrasekhar before the Patiala House Court last year. A transfer petition was filed before the Delhi High Court after the Principal District Judge noted that the complaint case related to a sitting MP, which needed to be transferred to MP/MLAs Court- Rouse Avenue Courts.
Earlier, responding to a legal notice sent by Chandrasekhar, Mr Tharoor said in the notice that he has “knowingly or unknowingly not made any false and malicious imputations” against Rajeev to “defame or harm his deputation without any proof to support or validate the alleged claims.”
