AHMEDABAD: A court here has issued summons to The Wire news portal on a criminal defamation petition filed by the Adani Group for an article published by it last December.
Summonses were issued yesterday to seven respondents in the case, including the author of the article as well as five editors and the not-for-profit organisation that publishes The Wire.
They have been asked by metropolitan magistrate S K Gadhavi to respond to the summonses on April 27, when the court will next hear the case.
In its petition, filed under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC, alleging criminal defamation, the Adani Group said that the article in question was published on December 11, 2017 "with the sole intention of harming the reputation of the complainant (Adani Power Maharashtra Limited)".
The article is intended to create "cheap publicity", smacks of "distaste, prejudice and malice against the complainant", and is a result of a "well-thought-out conspiracy" to tarnish the image.