BENGALURU: Senior Civil Judge, JMFC court, Kanakapura, has issued summons to BJP MLA from Vijayapura Basanagouda Patil Yatnal in a defamation suit filed by former Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar.
The Congress leader has sued the BJP legislator for a whopping Rs 204 crore, accusing him of making false allegations. Shivakumar, touted to be one of Karnataka’s richest politicians, paid Rs 1.04 crore as court fees to file a defamation suit. Shivakumar announced his decision to sue Yatnal on the floor of the Karnataka assembly earlier this month, when former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had sought to move a motion of confidence.
The defamation suit filed by Shivakumar, who is already under the scanner of the Income Tax department and Enforcement Directorate for allegedly being in possession of unaccounted money, will be taken up at the next hearing on September 18, 2019. On June 23, Yatnal was recorded telling a news channel that Shivakumar would no longer be a stumbling block in toppling the Congress-JDS coalition government, if he was freed from IT and ED probes.
“These remarks were passed with the malafide intention to malign and tarnish my public image. This has put a huge question mark on my loyalty, sincerity, integrity and image at the party and public level,” DK Shivakumar said in his defamation petition. He also sought permanent restraint on Yatnal from making any such comments.