YS Jagan Mohan Reddy Files ₹100 Crore Defamation Suit In Delhi High Court Against Media Outlets Linking Him To Adani Indictment

Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has filed a Rs. 100 crore defamation suit against various media houses over allegedly malicious and defamatory news reports linking him to the indictment proceedings against the Adani Group in United States.

Justice Subramonium Prasad on Tuesday issued notice on Reddy's application seeking interim injunction order in the suit. He has sought removal of the articles in question.

The matter is now listed on December 16 when the Court will consider passing interim order. Reddy was represented by Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan.

The defendant media outlets in the suit are- Ushodaya Enterprises Private Limited, M. Nageshwar Rao (Editor, Eenadu Publications), Aamoda Publications Private Limited (Publisher of Andhra Jyothi), N. Rahul Kumar (Editor, Andra Jyoti) and TV Today Network Limited (operator of Aajtak News).

The publications are titled “Adani 's bribe to Jagan: Rs. 1,750 Crores)”, “Jagan 's corruption reaches an international level”, “The Jagan- Adani Nexus When ... Where ... Why ... How?”, “In 25 Years: SEC! Burden I.JO Lakh Crores”, “The Jagan- Adani Bribe,y Saga”, “The knot of corruption is untangled! ..”, “PC Act on Jagan?”, “Whatever they do, it's a scam! In Jagan 's era, eve,ything is a 'What's is to me?' attitude)”, “What is the secret behind those meetings? If it has nothing to do with an agreement, why did they meet three times?”, and “Adani met Jagan Mohan Reddy and offered him Rs 1750 crore bribe”.

The suit contends that the insinuations against Reddy of receiving bribes, indulging in corruption, extending favours or misusing his position as the chief minister were completely false and have been made with the sole intent of lowering his reputation.

“These allegations are per se defamatory. These are intended to falsely convey to public that the Plaintiff is somehow involved in the purported corruption schemes which are under investigation of US authorities,” it adds.

Furthermore, it has been claimed that the allegation of Reddy being paid a bribe of Rs. 1,750 crores and that he designed a scheme to burden the state with a solar agreement worth thousands of crore were completely false and defamatory.

“That under the garb of reporting the legal proceedings in United States relating to the indictment proceedings and the civil suit proceedings initiated by SEC, the Defendants are spreading false and scandalous material against the Plaintiff. It is clear that the reportage is not limited to reporting bona fide and truthfully, the contents and the proceedings which form part of the judicial proceedings before the respective courts in the US,” the suit states.

Case Title: YEDUGURI SANDINTI JAGAN MOHAN REDDY v. USHODAYA ENTERPRISES PRIVATE LIMITED AND ORS