BJP president K. Annamalai
| Photo Credit: KUMAR SS
BJP Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, filed a defamation case at the Saidapet Court in Chennai against DMK’s organising secretary R.S. Bharathi, demanding a compensation of ₹1 crore for the latter’s remarks allegedly linking him with the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, in which 66 people have died so far.
Speaking to media persons, Mr. Annamalai said “Mr. Bharathi, in a press conference on June 23, claimed that the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, in which 65 people died, was a conspiracy spun by me. After having understood that the DMK’s time is over in the State, Mr. Bharathi has been increasingly uttering slanderous remarks.”
Mr. Annamalai said he has not filed any defamation case against anyone in the past three years. “But Mr. Bharathi’s remarks have caused distress to me. I have filed a defamation case against him, demanding ₹ 1 crore as compensation. The amount will be used to establish a de-addiction centre at Kallakurichi,” he said.
He said “If the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has the courage, he should reinstate the prosecution sanction for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Only a probe by the CBI will reveal the truth in the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy.”
The State government withdrew its general consent for the CBI, last year. “Why is the Chief Minister impeding a CBI inquiry into the murder of Bahujan Samaj party State president K. Armstrong, even when the DMK allies are demanding the probe by the central agency,” he asked.
