Shimla court acquits Amarinder Singh

A local court acquitted former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh in a decade-old defamation case after he claimed he shared a cordial relationship with the complainant, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Taking on record his statement, Chief Judicial Magistrate Jyotsna Dadwal dropped the criminal defamation proceedings against Amarinder Singh.

But the defamation case against another senior Congress leader, Moti Lal Vora, in the same case, would continue.

"Dhumal and I have shared cordial relationship. In the course of my speech in Hamirpur Jan 18, 2003, I did not attack Dhumal personally, though I criticised his government," a statement by Amarinder Singh in the court said.

He said that unfortunately, the speech was incorrectly reported in some newspapers.

"I did not level any personal allegation against Dhumal. The allegations against Dhumal attributed to me in some newspapers are unfounded, and were not made by me. I regret the hurt caused to Dhumal by incorrect reporting in the press," he said.

At this, the complainant, Dhumal, said that he did not want to pursue the case.

Earlier, Dhumal had told the court that the charges by Amarinder Singh and Vora were false and politically motivated, to tarnish his image.

Both had reportedly alleged at an election rally in Hamirpur that Dhumal had amassed assets to the tune of Rs.25 crore through questionable means.

In the second defamation case filed in 2003, Dhumal sued Anand Sharma, now Commerce Minister, for releasing a list of assets allegedly owned by Dhumal at a press conference in the state.

That case is still pending in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Dadwal and listed for hearing Sep 28.