Additional chief metropolitan magistrate, S K Gadhvi, on Wednesday adjourned the proceeding till October 16 on the criminal defamation case against a news portal and its journalists filed by BJP national chief Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah.
The court adjourned the proceeding on the request made by Shah on the ground that his advocate A V Raju was busy with conducting a matter at Gujarat high court and will not be able to conduct this case. Shah too did not remain present during the hearing, though two witnesses – Jaimin Amitchandra Shah and Rajiv Hasmukhbhai Shah – remained present in courtroom to give their statements to substantiate his claims.
The court adjourned the case with a warning that the complainant will not get any further adjournment on the ground of absence of the lawyer.
The court also directed Shah’s lawyers to file an application on behalf of the complainant requesting exemption from appearance on Wednesday.
After the brief proceeding, the court asked both witnesses whether they would like to claim the rent for transportation to the court.
Shah approached the court on Monday and sought action against seven persons – author of the article ‘The Golden Touch of Jay Amit Shah’ Rohini Singh and editors of the portal ‘The Wire’ Siddharth Varadrajan, Siddharth Bhatia, M K Venu, Monobina Gupta, Pamela Philipose and Foundation of Independent Journalism that runs the portal. He has accused them of criminal defamation, hatching a criminal conspiracy and abetment to malign his image.
He has also demanded adequate monitory compensation under Section 357 of the CrPC towards damages caused.
The Wire’s article claims to have quoted documents filed with the Registrar of Companies and said that Shah’s company’s revenue witnessed a staggering rise from Rs 50,000 in 2014-15 to Rs 80.5 crore in 2015-16. It received unsecured loan of Rs15.78 crore from one Rajesh Khandwala, a relative of Parimal Nathwani, Rajya Sabha member and senior executive at Reliance Industries.
Shah had declared on Sunday that he would file a defamation suit seeking damages of Rs 100 crore in a civil court. He moved a civil court at the Mirzapur court campus on Tuesday.
