Vivek Doval to court: Defamatory article was published to target his father

Vivek Doval, son of National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, on Wednesday recorded his statement saying that Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, The Caravan magazine and an author, through a defamatory article have raised questions over the integrity of his family, especially his father.

Vivek said he was a soft target and that the real target of the the malicious campaign led by the accused persons was his family, especially his father.

Vivek Doval told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal that the accused have caused irreparable damage to his reputation and career through the defamatory article.

The article referred to his family as the D Companies, whereas the D company is a term coined for Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted criminal, he told the court while testifying as a complainant witness in the case.

He also mentioned comments from public terming him as Chhota Doval and said that such comments have put him with alleged gangster Chhota Rajan and Chhota Shakil.

"My father Ajit Doval has dedicated his life to the security and welfare of the country all his life. My father has no connection with my business. He has never been a part of our business in any capacity," he said.

He said that allegation of money laundering by rerouting of funds into India through the Cayman Islands, in the post-demonetization created an impression that they are doing anti-national activities.

He said that random facts, lies, misleading inferences have all been pieced together in a motivated manner.

"My father confronted me with the article. I felt disturbed and humiliated on being questioned by my father in this manner as I have been a committed professional all my life," Vivek, a UK citizen as well as overseas citizen of India, told the court.

"I was livid after reading the article for the manner in which the events were narrated and projected," he said.

Vivek Doval also said that the accused persons with malafide intention made a defamatory statement on the basis of false accusation.

"The defamatory articles and press conference have tarnished my image as a professional globally and it is impossible to recover from this. The harm can not be quantified in money terms," Doval said.

After recording his statement, the court listed the matter for February 11 for recording the statements of other complainant witnesses.

Two other witnesses are Vivek's friend Nikhil Kapoor and business partner Amit Sharma.

Vivek Doval, in his plea, has alleged that the article intended to harm his reputation and business and these were punishable under the Indian Penal Code.

The magazine had in its January 16 online journal titled, 'The D Companies' had said that Vivek, "runs a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands" which is "an established tax haven" and was "registered merely 13 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government demonetised all existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, in 2016".

Earlier Vivek Doval's counsel D.P. Singh told the court that a hedge fund cannot be set up overnight, or in a matter of days and the title of the article 'The D-Companies' itself is scandalous and it is creating prejudice in the minds of the readers against the complainant and his family.

--IANS

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