Rahul, Siddaramaiah & DKS summoned by Bengaluru court in defamation case filed by BJP
The special court judge passed this order in a complaint filed by the BJP, alleging that the Congress leaders had given 'false' advertisements against the then-ruling BJP government, including the then-Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Congress leaders D K Shivakumar (L), Rahul Gandhi (C), and Siddaramaiah (R). (PTI)
BENGALURU: A special court for cases involving MPs/MLAs on Friday issued summons to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar to appear before it on March 28, 2024.
The special court judge passed this order in a complaint filed by the BJP, alleging that the Congress leaders had given "false" advertisements against the then-ruling BJP government, including the then-Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Special judge J Preeth directed the registration of a criminal case against the accused persons, including the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), for the offence under IPC section 499 of IPC, punishable under IPC section 500.
The complainant had alleged that in the advertisement issued on May 5, 2023, in all mainstream newspapers, the accused had made "fanciful, baseless, foundation-less and irrational" allegations against the BJP. It further claimed that the advertisement made "false and reckless" allegations under the title ‘Corruption Rate card’ based on the fanciful imagination of the accused.
The complainant stated that the KPCC and the other three accused had "conspired and planned to defame" the BJP by levelling "false" allegations.
"The advertisement showed the images of accused D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah seeking votes for the Ccongress. The complainant said that this shows that both the accused were directly responsible for all the false statements in the advertisement,” the complaint said.
