TN guv defends complaint against magazine editor, says he was hurt by slander

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Friday defended the police complaint against the editor of a Tamil weekly, saying he was hurt by the "continuous slander" published in the magazine against him and asserted that he would never be cowed down.

Days after the arrest and subsequent release of R Gopal, the editor of the vernacular weekly 'Nakkheeran,' in connection with articles linked to an assistant professor of a college that allegedly disparaged the governor, the Raj Bhavan strongly refuted the charges.

"Having been hurt by the continuous baseless slander, a complaint has been given under the law," a statement by Raj Bhavan said.

"The links attributed to the governor or the Raj Bhavan in the issue concerning a college assistant professor Nirmala Devi is absolute falsehood and there is not a shred of truthfulness in it," it said, adding, "The statement given by Nirmala Devi to the police would itself bear out the truth."
Devi was arrested in April for allegedly luring some college girls to extend sexual favours to "varsity officials," in return for "grades and money."
"The truth is that Nirmala Devi has never entered Raj Bhavan in the last one year and she does not have any acquaintance with the Governor or the Secretary to the Governor or any of the officers working in the Raj Bhavan."