Kochi, Dec 20 (IANS): Kerala BJP President K. Surendran on Friday got interim relief from the High Court which granted him exemption from personal appearance in a defamation case before the Ernakulam Magistrate Court, where the complainant claimed that the BJP leader called him a "thief".
The case was filed by T.G. Nandakumar, who is popularly called "Broker" Nandakumar as he is often seen moving close with big business people and also has good relations with high-flying politicians, cutting across party lines, too.
Incidentally, Nandakumar had filed defamation cases against BJP leader Anil Antony, son of veteran Congress leader A.K.Antony also, after a peeved Anil Antony, the BJP candidate at the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency in the general elections, called him "an idol thief" after Nandakumar alleged that the younger Antony had accepted a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from him to appoint one of his friends as a standing counsel for the CBI in Kerala High Court.
Anil Antony, hitting back at Nandakumar, also told the media that there were more than 100 CBI cases against the complainant.
Soon after Anil Antony's statement was doing the rounds, Surendran also repeated the same words calling him a thief and this irked Nandakumar who filed a defamation petition against both.
On Thursday, the High Court granted personal exemption to Anil Antony and on Friday, Surendran also got the same benefit.
Nandakumar has the habit of courting controversy through his provocative statements and he ran into trouble after firebrand BJP leader Sobha Surendran, the BJP candidate from the Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency, filed a case against him for his "baseless allegations" that she had taken Rs 10 lakh from him as advance for a land deal and due to some flaw in documents, the sale did not take place but she failed to return the money.
Nandakumar’s closeness with CPI-M veteran E.P.Jayarajan saw Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan express his displeasure indirectly as he publicly chided Jayarajan for not vetting the company he keeps.