CHENNAI: BJP state president K Annamalai on Wednesday filed a criminal defamation case against DMK’s organising secretary RS Bharathi at the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Saidapet, demanding a compensation of Rs 1 crore for the latter’s remarks allegedly linking him with the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, where 66 people died so far.
Speaking to reporters after filing a defamation case, Annamalai said, “I didn’t file any defamation case against anyone in the last three years. But, Bharathi said on June 23 that the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy was a conspiracy spun by me. His remarks have caused distress to me. Two years ago, Bharathi called me “Chinna Paiyan” and said that he has a wonderful horoscope in his hand and has sent many to jail because of it. But, this time, this “Chinna Paiyan” will send him to jail,” he said.
Responding to Annamalai’s defamation case against him, the ruling DMK’s organising secretary Bharathi said that he is ready to face it.
“There has been no response to the legal notice I have already sent to him asking for compensation of Rs 2 crore in connection with the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy. Now, he has gone to the court. I am ready to face it,” he told DT Next.
Annamalai also said, “If Chief Minister MK Stalin has the courage, he should reinstate the prosecution sanction for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Only a probe by the CBI will reveal the truth in the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy and in the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party state president K Armstrong.”
The former IPS officer also questioned whether the Indian billionaire business magnate Gautam Adani met Chief Minister Stalin or his son-in-law in Chennai on Tuesday, July 9.
He further claimed that the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K Selvaperunthagai, who started his career as a clerk in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), now owns many properties in his name and his wife’s name in London.
“A person, who was arrested under the Goondas Act, is holding the national party’s state president post now. This happens only in Congress,” he noted.