Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's son Kartikey Singh on Tuesday filed a defamation case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for "dragging" his name into the Panama paper leak controversy.
Kartikey's lawyer Shirish Shrivastava told ANI, "We have filed a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi. Yesterday during a political rally he gave a statement in which he linked Shivraj Singh Chouhan's son to Panama papers. It is completely baseless. This is a highly objectionable statement which has been given with a clear-cut criminal intent. He is trying to mislead people by making allegations against the Chief Minister without having a fact."
The defamation suit has been filed under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, said the advocate.
Meanwhile, Kartikey brushed aside Gandhi's statement as "baseless" saying, "I don't hold him (Rahul Gandhi) responsible, entire Congress party is confused. Allegations by him are completely baseless, he himself accepted that. But he criticised my family and me from a public platform. We'll take appropriate legal actions."
On October 29, while addressing a rally in Jhabua, Gandhi scion claimed that Chouhan's son was named in the Panama papers. "Son of Shivraj Singh has been named in the Panama papers. Even a country like Pakistan punished its former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when he was named in the Panama papers. But here no action has taken place as of now," Gandhi said.
'Panama Paper Leaks' was first reported in 2016 where reportedly 500 Indians were named in the documents of Mossack Fonseca - a Panama-based law firm known for their services in incorporating firms in offshore jurisdictions.
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