Defamation case against Modi dismissed

A court here Monday dismissed a defamation complaint against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and others filed by former Gujarat Police chief R.B. Sreekumar.

Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain dismissed the complaint after observing that neither the complainant nor his counsel appeared for the hearing despite repeated calls since morning.

The court noted that Sreekumar did not appear in the court in the previous hearing too.

"Complainant is not interested, not willing to pursue his matter... as such the present complaint is dismissed," said the judge.

Apart from Modi, others named in the defamation case filed by the former Gujarat director general of police are Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi and scientist S. Nambi Narayanan.

In his plea, Sreekumar had urged the court to initiate proceedings against the four for hatching a conspiracy to defame him.

According to the petition, as part of the plan, Lekhi gave an interview to a TV channel where she alleged that Sreekumar played into the hands of the CIA, and falsely implicated Narayanan in an espionage case.

Narayanan was then working as a scientist in the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, while Sreekumar was serving as deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau in Thiruvananthapuram (1992-1995).

The former Gujarat DGP said Lekhi called him "anti-national" and a "traitor" in the TV interview.

In 1994, Narayanan was implicated in an espionage case for leaking defence secrets to Maldivian intelligence officers.

However, a Central Bureau of Investigation probe found that he was innocent.