Guwahati, Aug 23 (IANS): A lower court in Guwahati has summoned Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to appear before the court in connection with a defamation case filed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court, Kamrup in Guwahati has asked Sisodia to appear on September 29.

On June 4, Manish Sisodia at a press conference in Delhi alleged that the Assam government had given contracts to the firm of Sarma's wife to supply PPE kits above market rates during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in the country in March 2020.

Sarma was then the Health and Family Welfare Minister in Sarbananda Sonowal-led government in Assam.

However, Chief Minister Sarma and his wife denied the allegations.

Sarma said that his wife did not take a single penny against the supply of PPE kits. She donated those to the state health department as there was a scarcity of PPE kits at that time.

Following that, the Assam Chief Minister lodged a criminal defamation case against Sisodia. His wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma also filed a Rs 100 crore defamation case against the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister.