Baalu prayed to a magistrate court in Chennai to take cognizance of his complaint and summon, try, and punish Annamalai for defamation.
The defamation case was filed by Baalu against Annamalai at the XVII Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Saidapet in Chennai (Creative Commons)
DMK treasurer TR Baalu, who is also the party’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha, has filed a defamation case against Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai for allegedly defaming him through “DMK Files” — a series of multimedia content through which the saffron party leader claimed to have “exposed” the party currently in power in Tamil Nadu.
Filing the complaint at the XVII Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Saidapet in Chennai on Friday, 12 May, Baalu said in his petition that Annamalai on 14 April, at the BJP state headquarters, released in a press conference the “DMK Files“, which was streamed live on Facebook, and was also telecast on TV channels and YouTube channels.
He added that Annamalai screened a video in the press conference allegedly detailing figures of accumulated wealth illegally and attempted to create a misconception amongst the public about Baalu.
In his petition, Baalu stated that these allegations were baseless, and were made with the sole intention of tarnishing his reputation.
“During the entire length of the speech during the press meet, the accused (Annamalai) made false, baseless, and defamatory allegations and statements about DMK party leaders indulging in corruption and amassing wealth and assets out of corrupt activities, without any basis or cogent materials or evidence to back his claims,” said Baalu.
Hence, the DMK MP prayed that the court take cognizance of his complaint and summon, try, and punish Annamalai for defamation.
Reacting to the case filed by Baalu, Annamalai told reporters that one had to only compare the property details Baalu furnished in his first election affidavit and his most recent affidavit to know the value of the properties he accumulated.
Mentioning the incidents where Baalu apparently tried to construct a spirit factory at Vadaseri in the Thanjavur district against the wishes of local residents, Annamalai said that he was not afraid of these defamation cases.
Annamalai said that he was the only person in India who had been slapped with defamation notices where the damages demanded were to the tune of ₹14,000 crore.
He added that he would continue exposing the DMK functionaries’ corruption in the public domain.
Several DMK leaders, including RS Bharathi, TR Baalu, Kanimozhi, MP Kalanidhi Veerasamy, and ministers Udhayanidhi and Senthil Balaji have already issued defamation notices against Annamalai.
This was the second defamation case filed against Annamalai for releasing the “DMK Files”.
Earlier, on behalf of Chief Minister MK Stalin, a defamation case was filed against him by the City Public Prosecutor at Chennai.
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