Nearly a month after Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai accused the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin of receiving kickbacks of Rs 200 crores to award a contract to a company for the first phase of the Chennai Metro Rail Project, the city public prosecutor filed a criminal defamation case against Annamalai accusing him of harming the reputation of the Chief Minister.
In the petition filed on behalf of the Chief Minister at the Principal District and Sessions Court in Chennai, the city public prosecutor urged the court to take action against the state BJP chief under section 500 (Punishment for criminal defamation) of IPC (Indian Penal Code) and Code of Criminal Procedure section 199(2) over his comments against MK Stalin.
Addressing a press conference on April 14, Annamalai levelled two major allegations of corruption against the Chief Minister, accusing MK Stalin of receiving Rs.200 crore, from Alstom Transport, through two shell companies for granting the Metro contract to a particular MNC. Annamalai also alleged that Rs 1000 crores were to be invested in India from the company which had Stalin's son Udhayanidhi as director.
“Last year, when Stalin visited Dubai and signed several MoUs including a deal with Noble Steel company to invest Rs 1000 crores in India, DMK leaders called it an achievement. But Noble Steel, a company in question, had Stalin's son, Udhayanidhi as director. Later he resigned in 2009. In 2016, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, [who is state’s School Education minister] was a director of the company and he also resigned from the company just before the elections. But, now Rs 1000 crore is likely to be invested in India. What is the mystery behind this investment?” he asked in the press meet.
The petition to the court also mentions that the video and statements from the press meet uploaded and circulated on social media platforms were “intending to harm the reputation of the Chief Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu in respect of his conduct in the discharge of his public function.”
According to the petition, the statements made by Annamalai have caused considerable harm to the reputation of the Tamil Nadu CM. It further argues that the opposition parties, particularly the BJP, could not digest the love and affection showered by the people of the state to TN CM who has earned a very high reputation among them as he delivered excellent rule for the past two years. “The statements released by the BJP were not made in good faith but only to defame MK Stalin for the personal political gain of Annamalai,” the city public prosecutor charged in the petition.
At the media interaction of April 14, Annamalai had also accused many top leaders of DMK of owning questionable assets. In the ‘DMK files’, (as he dubbed the documents he released on the occasion), the BJP chief claimed that the assets listed purportedly worth Rs 1.34 lakh crore were owned by 12 individuals including Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin (who is a minister himself), his son-in-law Sabareesan, and sister MP Kanimozhi; state ministers EV Velu and KN Nehru; and MPs TR Baalu, Kathir Anand, and Kalanidhi Veerasamy.
After the press meet, DMK leaders, ministers, and family members started sending legal notices to Annamalai. DMK’s organising secretary RS Bharathi‘s notice demanded Rs.500 crores as damages for defaming the party and its leaders. He also wanted Annamalai to offer an apology for his false claims and delete the video of his press conference from all his social media accounts, failing to do which would invite civil or criminal procedures, the notice warned.
On April 29, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, DMK deputy general secretary and Thoothukudi MP also sent a legal notice to Annamalai, saying she had suffered mental agony and torture over his accusations and demanded Rs 1 crore as compensation.