Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Mar 16: Sports minister, Gulihatti Shekhar, filed a defamation suit in the civil court at Holalkere in his home district, Chitradurga, on Monday Mary 15, showing former MLA, B G Govindappa, as the defendant, alleging that the defendant had been found to be making baseless allegations against him relating to mining matters, with the specific purpose of harming his reputation.

Reportedly, Govindappa had, through a statement, alleged that Shekhar had been openly venting his anger against the Chief Minister and the BJP candidate for the assembly election, till B Y Raghavendra, son of Yeddyurappa, visited Hosadurga and paid four crore rupees to the minister besides handing over to him a permission to conduct mining operations. Through the statement, Govindappa allegedly said that the democracy had received a jolt in the incident, and had demanded for the dropping of the minister from the cabinet.

The minister, in his petition, said that the above statement was false, and that no mediation or exchange of money had taken place as alleged therein. He has sought relief for the damage his reputation had suffered because of the above statement. He also said that another statement of the defendant made in his speeches, that Shekhar had planned to rob the mining wealth of Hosadurga taluk by illegally transporting iron ore worth Rs 25 crores by auctioning it near Bhovihatti in Hosur, and that he had accepted a bribe of Rs 8.5 crore from the bidders, was an utter lie.

The minister has sought for framing of charges against Govindappa under Indian Penal Code sections 499, 500, 501 and 502 for the mental agony he had gone through because of these baseless statements and requested the court to initiate legal steps accordingly.