Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has claimed in a local court that the trustees of a charitable trust have “suddenly” and “aggressively” relaunched an old suit against him and his wife Sumedha, relating to an alleged misappropriation of funds after he was awarded Nobel.
The child rights activist, who got the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, said the allegations against him and his wife were malafide and the civil suit, filed against him in the year 1997, alleging embezzlement of huge funds should be dismissed with cost.
“The defendants (Satyarthi and Sumedha) submit that the suit filed by the plaintiffs is malafide and is an abuse of the process of law. The plaintiffs who had filed the present suit way back in the year 1997 have suddenly started aggressively prosecuting the proceedings after defendant number 1 has been awarded Nobel Peace Prize,” stated the plea filed before Additional District Judge Kamini lau said.
The plea was submitted in the pending suit, filed against the couple by Mukti Pratisthan Trust and four trustees alleging that the plaintiffs had got to know about embezzlement of huge sums of money belonging to the trust by maintaining false accounts.
Satyarthi and his wife are also trustees of the trust. In his plea, Satyarthi has urged the court to direct the plaintiffs to furnish security for the costs incurred or likely to be incurred by the defendants to defend themselves.
“In case any cost of proceedings are awarded, it will not be possible for defendants to recover the same from plaintiffs as they do not possess any sufficient movable property within India from they can realise the costs.
“The plaintiffs do not own any assets from which the defendants may be able to realise the cost of proceedings,” Satyarthi’s application said, alleging that the plaintiffs had misappropriated trust properties for their own benefit.
The plaintiffs had earlier submitted to the court that they cannot bear even half the cost of chartered accountant to be appointed by it to look into the accounts of trust.