Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Jul 27: Two years after the death of former IAS officer, D K Ravi, Bengaluru urban development minister K J George has filed a criminal defamation complaint against Arnab Ranjan Goswami, the former editor-in-chief of Times Now, and against Times Now for “defamatory campaign and propaganda to imply K J George having a vested interest in D K Ravi’s death.”

On Wednesday July 26, an FIR was filed at the Jeevan Bhima Nagar Police Station, after which the complaint was submitted to the 10thAdditional District Magistrate Court under sections 499, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, read along with sections 34 and 35 of the IPC.

The complaint filed by George says that “sly and blatantly false innuendoes and statements” were made by Arnab Goswami on Times Now Super Prime Time in 2015.

Ajesh Kumar Shankar, the advocate for George said that DK Ravi died on March 16, 2015. However, Arnab Goswami 'without investigation or evidence' declared his death to be a 'murder' and accused K J George, who was the then home minister. Goswami also accused George of running a mafia and destroying evidence. "This amounts to interfering in the judicial process and hence the complaint was filed today," he said, according to a report by The News Minute.

"Arnab Goswami, in his shows, had said that the Embassy Group and my company Kelachandra Group colluded together to kill DK Ravi, stating that the deceased IAS officer was investigating an encroachment by the Embassy Group," said K J George.

"A day after the death of Ravi on March 16, 2015, Goswami ran a false and malicious campaign between March 17 and 23 on his Prime Time Show on Times Now, making defamatory allegation against K J George, accusing him of having a hand in death of Ravi, destroying evidence and also accusing him of supporting some business groups who he said might benefit from Ravi’s death. All this without proper investigation and just sitting at the comfort of his chair in Mumbai he went all out to make false accusations without any evidence to substantiate them. This has hurt my client’s reputation, who is a respected politician," he said.

Although the programme was aired in 2015, George filed the complaint almost two years later as he was waiting for the CBI probe to conclude.

"The CID and CBI probes have concluded that D K Ravi committed suicide. I waited for my name to be cleared, and to see if any counter complaints would be filed, and only after that did I decide to file a criminal defamation complaint against Arnab Goswami," says George.

The complaint quotes 46 statements aired by Times Now between March 17 and 23, 2015 - some made by Arnab Goswami on screen, and others run as tickers on the show. According to the complaint, Arnab called K J George a "gangster, murderer, a destroyer of evidence".

George now alleges in his complaint that the malicious campaign by Arnab Goswami on national television, was orchestrated with mala fide to destroy the reputation of the complainant (K J George), humiliate him and embarrass him before society. He said that the fake news by Goswami caused him embarrassment.

"The programme was aimed at destroying the support I have in my constituency (Sarvanga Nagar)," George added.

The court has asked Minister K J George to submit his sworn statement on August 19.

With Agency Inputs