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Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is to appear in person before a court in Assam’s Kamrup on November 19 in connection with a defamation case filed against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
On Friday, the Gauhati High Court rejected Sisodia’s plea to quash the case under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, which is currently before the High Court of Judicature (CJM) in Kamrup.
“In August, the CJM court had issued a summons to Sisodia, directing him to appear in person on September 29. But the Delhi Deputy CM approached the Gauhati High Court seeking quashing of the case,” he said. Assam public debater Debajit Saikia.
“The high court has held that Sisodia’s petitioner has not been able to make out any case to quash the proceedings in the CJM court. Therefore, in continuation of the previous summons, Sisodia will appear before the court on November 19,” he added.
Dismissing Sisodia’s petition, Justice Kalyan Rai Surana of the Gauhati High Court said the case before the CJM court should be “decided on its own merits”.
In July, Sarma filed a defamation case under sections 499, 500 and 501 of the Indian Penal Code against Sisodia alleging that Sarma had committed a criminal act by awarding the contract for the supply of PPE equipment to his wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma’s company. . In a press conference held in Delhi on June 4, Sisodia alleged that when Sarma was the health minister in 2020, he gave an emergency contract to his wife’s company for the supply of PPE kits at rates above the market price during the beginning of the pandemic. Covid-19 in 2020 ₹990 per piece while the state government bought the materials from other companies ₹600 per piece.
“The court conducted a preliminary inquiry into the case and issued summons to Sisodia after examining two witnesses on August 19. CM Sarma also pronounced the verdict before the court on August 5,” Saikia said.
In addition to the criminal defamation suit, Sarma’s wife also filed a civil defamation suit in June. ₹100 crore against Sisodia in the court of Civil Judge No. 1 of Kamrup district.
Denying allegations made in a series of reports by The Wire, Riniki issued a statement in June denying any wrongdoing.
She said that in the first week of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, not a single PPE package was available in Assam. Realizing this, she contacted a business acquaintance, and delivered around 1,500 PPE kits to the National Health Mission (NHM) Assam “with great diligence”.
“I signed up for NHM as part of my corporate social responsibility (CSR). I haven’t spent a single penny on this project. I have always firmly believed in giving back to society regardless of position. my husband’s politics,” she said.
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