CHENNAI: MDMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP Vaiko was on Friday acquitted in a defamation case against him by the DMK government in 2006.
Vaiko who was not present in the court when the verdict was pronounced. Counsel submitted that Vaiko was hospitalised and was unable to attend the proceedings. Hospital reports were submitted to the court. The prosecution case was that Vaiko made defamatory statements against the then DMK president M Karunanidhi. He alleged that the DMK had wooed MDMK party leaders Senji Ramachandran and L Ganesan by trying to organise a parallel general body meeting of the party.
In a letter to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, he had claimed that the district secretaries and ministers of DMK lured MDMK members. Recording the submissions, Special Court Judge G Karunanidhi observed that the entire case had been filed based on a report in The New Indian Express dated December 25, 2006.