gaurav chandra
BHOPAL, 13 JULY: Madhya Pradesh State Assembly Leader of Opposition, Mr Ajay Singh could, queerly enough, possibly become the biggest individual donor towards the relief and rehabilitation of MP residents who suffered during the recent Uttarakhand tragedy, if a court here directs him to pay the sum of Rs 1 crore demanded as fine and compensation by MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his wife Mrs Sadhna Singh in a defamation case filed by them against Mr Singh.
The complaint states that Mr and Mrs Chouhan confirm and undertake that the amount of compensation recovered from Mr Singh would be used in welfare and rehabilitation of the people of MP subjected to the Uttarkhand tragedy.
The plaint-petition was filed under Section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), 1973 for the offence under Section 499 read with Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Mr Sanjay Pandey here on Friday.
The CM couple’s lawyer Mr Deepesh Joshi has urged the court to prosecute and punish Mr Ajay Singh with maximum imprisonment according to law and impose a fine of Rs one crore upon him. According to reports, Mr Singh while making corruption accusations against the couple, had reportedly dubbed Mrs Sadhna Singh as a ‘money counting machine’ at a rally at Khargone on 4 June and Sagar on 9 June this year.
It was pointed out in the plaint that while addressing a public meeting during Parivartan Yatra at Sagar, Mr Singh had reportedly said, "Gutkha pouches were being black-marketed in the state and the crores of rupees were being counted on Sadhna Bhabhi’s machine".
Similarly, the complaint states that at another rally at Khargone, Mr Singh had allegedly said, "Chief Minister should reveal the real identity of Sadhna Bhabi." During the same speech, Mr Singh had also allegedly held Mrs Sadhna Singh responsible for the illegal mining in the state and called her a ‘currency counting machine’.
News clippings of different newspapers that reported the event have also been submitted along with the complaint.
The complaint says that the baseless allegations were damaging as they were published in widely circulated dailies.
The court would record the statements of Mr Chouhan and his wife on 30 July. Earlier, the Chief Minister had issued a notice to Mr Singh on 18 June 2013, demanding a public and unconditional apology and withdrawal of the statements.
However, in the reply sent by the Congress leader through his lawyer, he had backtracked from the statements allegedly delivered by him during his public meeting in Sagar. Mr Singh’s lawyer claimed that the Congress leader did not speak out anything in the said meetings, which was mentioned in the
newspaper.