Ex-cop files defamation complaint against Modi, Rajnath

Former IPS officer R B Sreekumar, who had taken on Narendra Modi in the past, today filed a criminal defamation complaint in a Delhi court against the Gujarat Chief Minister, BJP President Rajnath Singh and two others over attacks on him in the ISRO spying case.
Sreekumar, who had retired as the Director General of Gujarat Police, has also named BJP's spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi and Nambi Narayanan, a retired scientist of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), as accused in his complaint.
He alleged that the accused hatched a conspiracy and on November 7, Lekhi gave statements harming his reputation "by digging out an old closed case of 1994 related to espionage affecting the national interests of country".

He claimed that "false allegation" was levelled against him regarding the 1994 case in which Narayanan was initially implicated as an accused but was later found to be innocent by the CBI.
He said that he was then serving in Central Intelligence Bureau as Deputy Director in Trivandrum and was a part of the team which had probed the matter initially.
Sreekumar alleged that Lekhi and Narayanan had claimed that he had "played into the hands of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)" and they also termed him as "anti-national" and "traitor".

He claimed that Lekhi had given a statement that though CBI had recommended action against him and other IB officials and Kerala police officers, the UPA-I government favoured them and without conducting a proper enquiry, exonerated them of all charges on professional lapses.

"The accused number three (Lekhi) further charged that as a quid-pro-quo of this favour from UPA Govt, the complainant (Sreekumar) had fabricated evidence against Narendra Modi about his alleged anti-minority atrocities since 2002 riots," he said in his plea filed through advocate Brijesh Kalappa.
The petition is expected to be heard by Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain on November 21.