BHUBANESWAR: Niakhunta.com's proprietor Pradip Pandey and a local TV channel on Wednesday responded to the show cause notice issued over the defamation suit filed by Mayor AN Jena. NSUI State president Itish Pradhan, meanwhile, sought some more time to submit his reply.
The court of Sub-Judge Bhubaneswar has allowed Itish and a couple of TV channels, which had aired the controversial video allegedly featuring the Mayor, time till January 3, 2017 to respond to the show cause notice.
The court also extended the restraint order on airing defamatory content (in the video) till the aforesaid date. The hearing of the case will be done on a date which will be announced on January 3, sources said.
The Mayor had filed a civil defamation suit against Pradhan and Pandey over circulation of an objectionable clip on social media.
Contacted, Jena’s counsel Sitanshu Dwivedy said, ‘’My client has a contention that both Pandey and Itish have conspired to manufacture the video and circulated it on Youtube and social media.’’