Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group sues NDTV for Rs 10,000 crore over coverage of Rafale jet deal
New Delhi, Oct 18: Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group has sued news channel NDTV for Rs 10,000 crore in an Ahmedabad court for the channel’s coverage of the Rafale fighter jet deal, the channel said in a statement on Thursday. The lawsuit is filed against NDTV’s weekly show Truth vs Hype which aired on September 29.
The matter has been listed for hearing on October 26. NDTV said it will argue in court that the charges of defamation are “a heavy-handed attempt by Anil Ambani’s group to suppress the facts and prevent the media from doing its job – asking questions about a defence deal and seeking answers that are very much in public interest”.
The channel said top executives of Reliance Group had ignored multiple requests to appear on the show or comment on the matter. “The NDTV show reported all sides of the story including Dassault’s denial that it had been under any pressure to select Reliance,” it said in the statement. “The panellists, in a balanced discussion, examined whether issues like Reliance’s vast debt and record in defence manufacturing made it a suitable choice for Dassault in India.”
The Reliance group has been on a “notice-serving spree”, NDTV said. “To sue a news company for 10,000 crores in a court in Gujarat on false and frivolous charges, ignoring facts that are widely reported everywhere and not just by NDTV, can only be interpreted as an unsophisticated warning to the media to stop doing its job,” the statement read.
NDTV has been sued by Anil Ambani’s Reliance for 10,000 crores in an AHMEDABAD court. For our coverage of Rafale. We will fight this brazen attempt at harassment and intimidation.
— Suparna Singh (@Suparna_Singh) October 18, 2018
India and France signed a deal in 2016 for the delivery of 36 Rafale aircraft to the Indian Air Force. On July 20, Congress President Rahul Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha, claiming they had not been truthful about the deal with France. Gandhi’s allegations were bolstered when former French President Francois Hollande claimed in September that the Indian government had proposed Reliance Defence’s name for the contract.
In August, the Reliance Group filed a Rs 5,000-crore civil defamation suit against the National Herald, alleging that an article published in the newspaper about the Rafale deal was “libellous and derogatory”, PTI reported. The group also served legal notices to spokespersons and leaders of the Congress party asking them to “cease and desist” from levelling allegations against it over the Rafale deal.
On Wednesday, a city civil court in Ahmedabad issued notice to Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh based on a civil defamation suit filed by Reliance Infrastructure Limited for his claims about the Rafale deal. Singh had referred to the controversial agreement as a “big scam”.
Courtesy: scroll.in
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
