Bihar minister slaps legal notice on Prashant Kishor over land deal remarks

Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary on Tuesday served a legal notice to Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor, demanding an “unconditional apology” for alleged defamatory remarks or face a ₹100 crore civil suit for damages.

 

At a press conference on September 19, Kishor accused Choudhary of involvement in an irregular land deal worth ₹200 crore.

 

The poll strategist-turned-politician alleged that Choudhary, along with his wife, daughter Shambhavi, and sister-in-law Anita Kunal, purchased land valued at ₹200 crore in the name of an organisation called Manav Vaibhav Vikas Trust, which is linked to Shambhavi’s in-laws.

 

Choudhary, the minister for Bihar’s Rural Works Department, is a close aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and a national general secretary of the ruling Janata Dal (United).

 

In the notice, Choudhary’s lawyer Kumar Anjaneya Shanu said Kishor must “either provide proof to support your allegations or issue a written and oral unconditional apology publicly in a press conference.”

 

The move comes barely three months after Choudhary filed a defamation case against Kishor, who had accused him of bribing Union minister Chirag Paswan to secure a ticket for his daughter Shambhavi, now the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP from Samastipur.

 

In the seven-page notice, Shanu reminded Kishor of the earlier case, remarking: “Instead of course correction, you have attacked my client with a new set of wild, frivolous and defamatory allegations.”

 

Notably, Kishor was JD(U)’s national vice-president before being expelled from the party for allegedly running a “motivated campaign” against Choudhary.