AHMEDABAD: All the accused in a case filed by BJP president Amit Shah's son Jay Shah over an article published by news portal 'The Wire' relating to his company today denied the allegation of criminal defamation against them, according to Jay Shah's lawyer.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S K Gadhvi recorded the statements of the accused today, his lawyer Prakash Patel said.
With the accused denying the allegation that they indulged in criminal defamation, the trial will start from the next hearing on March 17 with Jay Shah's examination, he said.
Jay Shah had moved court alleging criminal defamation by the accused after the article published by the website claimed his company's turnover grew exponentially following the BJP-led government coming to power at the Centre in 2014.
Shah filed the criminal defamation case against the author of the article Rohini Singh, founding editors of the news portal Siddharth Varadarajan, Siddharth Bhatia and M K Venu, managing editor Monobina Gupta, public editor Pamela Philipose and the owner of the portal, Foundation for Independent Journalism.
The accused had earlier moved the Gujarat High Court to get the case quashed, but got no relief.
Jay Shah has separately filed a civil defamation suit of Rs 100 crore against the website over the article.