Secretary to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and secretary of Energy, IT and Public Relations Departments of the State Government, Aman Kumar Singh, on Thursday filed a libel plaint in the court of Judicial Magistrate Rashmi Netam against the editor of Hindi daily Patrika and two office bearers of Chhattisgarh unit of the Congress, demanding Rs2 crore compensation from each of them and maximum imprisonment possible for damaging his and his spouse’s reputations by publishing a slanderous article.
Singh’s lawyer Rakesh Shroti informed that a defamation case has been filed against editor of Patrika newspaper Giriraj Sharma, vice president of Congress Vyapar Prakosht Tikendra Thakur and CGPC spokesman R P Singh under Section 499 and Section 500 of IPC in the district court seeking Rs2 crore compensation from each of them for publishing an article on page no 2 of the newspaper’s October 30 (Chhattisgarh edition) this year claiming that Singh and his wife Yasmin Singh had purchased movable/immovable property in Dubai and the couple would run away to the Gulf country if Bharatiya Janata Party is dislodged from power in Chhattisgarh.
According to the lawyer the news item, published without any substantive evidence immensely damaged the image of the couple who are excellent figures in their respective fields. According to Shroti, he had issued legal notices to Giriraj Sharma, Tikendra Thakur, RP Singh as well as president of CGPCC Vyapar Prakosht Kanhaiya Agrawal for conspiring to damage the image of his clients but as Agrawal denied his role in publication of the news item he has been spared of the legal action.
In the compplaint, the lawyer demanded from the accused to seek apology from Singh and his wife in writing and publish that in the paper and its web page in space equal to the space covering the alleged item. Aman Singh claimed that he would spend the amount received after decision of the case in helping families and kids hit by Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh.