A special court for cases involving MPs/MLAS has taken cognizance against former minister Priyank Kharge, Congress candidate in Malleswaram assembly constituency Anoop Iyengar, and former Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Gowda in a defamation case filed by Minister for Higher Education Dr C N Ashwath Narayan.
The BJP leader has accused Kharge and two others of defaming him over the Sankey flyover project.
Special court judge J Preeth has taken cognizance and posted the matter to May 4, 2023 for recording the statement of the complainant and his witness, if any. Narayan had filed a private complaint stating that the accused persons had defamed him with their press statements issued and also through social media posts in April 2023.
An FIR was registered on February 19, 2023 against a group of people for holding a protest against the proposed road-widening project along the Sankey Tank Road.
The next day, a group belonging to a political party, too, staged a protest against the project, and another FIR was registered. After a lapse of more than 40 days from the date of the protest and registration of the FIRs, the accused held a press conference on April 2, 2023 and made false allegations against the complainant.
Narayan claimed that these allegations were circulated on digital media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram to tarnish his image in view of the elections.
The complainant has made out a prima facie case to take cognizance of the offence under Section 499 IPC, which is punishable under IPC Section 500 and to proceed further, the court said.