HYDERABAD: Telangana IT and Industries Minister and TRS working president KT Rama Rao filed a defamation suit against state Congress president and MP A Revanth Reddy on Monday for linking him to a drugs case.
Rama Rao had initially claimed damages for Rs 1.15 crore. Later, his advocates informed the City Civil Courts, where the suit was filed, that he was still in the process of collecting details of the extent of defamation and would arrive at a final figure afterwards. The TRS working president appealed to the court to direct Revanth to tender an unconditional apology for his statements on public platforms.
Revanth Reddy dared Rama Rao to come to the Martyrs Memorial in Hyderabad to give samples for a drugs test. Revanth Reddy too offered to give samples for the test. Even as Revanth Reddy reached the Martyrs Memorial with a huge number of his followers, KTR slapped a defamation case against him. Rama Rao said that he was ready to give samples for a drugs test at AIIMS, Delhi, provided Congress leader Rahul Gandhi too comes to AIIMS and gives his samples.
Both Rama Rao and Revanth Reddy took to Twitter on Monday with challenges and counter challenges against each other over the drugs case.
Rama Rao instituted a civil suit for defamation and for grant of perpetual injunction against Revanth Reddy. "The suit is a result of various baseless, scurrilous and manifestly false statements and allegations made against KT Rama Rao by Revanth Reddy seeking to falsely link KTR with the ongoing investigation being conducted by the Enforcement Directorate against allegations of drug and psychotropic substances abuse by certain named accused," according to information from KTR's office.
The civil suit contends that the investigations are being done against the said accused and as a part of the investigations, various persons are being examined with none of whom KTR has any association or link for the alleged acts. Rama Rao has thus sought a declaration that such false statements made by Revanth Reddy are slanderous, libellous and constitute defamation and seeks an appropriate injunction against making such defamatory statements and to take down all such false statements/accusations.
Liberty has also been reserved in the suit for instituting further criminal proceedings and for payment of compensatory damages for such serious and malicious acts of defamation, said the suit.