On the sidelines of the electoral battles in Gujarat and Himachal, a legal clash is surfacing between senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh and BJP president Nitin Gadkari over the charges the former has levelled against the latter.
A local court on Friday granted bail to Digvijay in the criminal defamation case Gadkari had filed against him following the allegation that the BJP chief had business links with MP Ajay Sancheti.
Gadkari was also accused of pocketing approximately `490 crore in the coal block allocation. Following this, Gadkari had registered a defamation case against Digvijay in which he denied having any business ties with Sancheti.
He dismissed Digvijay’s charges as “totally false and defamatory” and said they were aimed at holding him accountable for coal mines allocation” to the Sancheti.
Gadkari also sought Digvijay’s prosecution under Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 punishment for defamation) of the IPC. The court finding “prima facie” evidence against Digvijay had directed him to appear before it. Digvijay appeared before Metropolitan Magistrate Sudesh Kumar on Friday following the summons issued on November 17. The judge granted him bail on a personal bond of `50,000 and a surety of the like amount.
Later, Digvijay said that he would now prove all his charges against Gadkari. “Now I can say everything in front of the court the way Gadkari has worked as a businessman and his links with various other businessmen, and how he earned profits.”