PremiumThe Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kamrup, Monmee Sarma, issued the summons to Manish Sisodia to appear in person before September 29 for allegedly making defamatory remarks against Sarma
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Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was summoned by an Assam court on Tuesday in a criminal defamation case filed by the northeastern state CM Himanta Biswa Sarma. The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kamrup, Monmee Sarma, issued the summons to Sisodia to appear in person before September 29 for allegedly making defamatory remarks against Sarma, according to the news agency PTI.
Referring to media reports at a press briefing in Delhi on June 4, Sisodia had said that the chief minister have urgent supply orders of PPE kits to the firms of his wife and son's business partners for ₹990 a piece, while the state government procured these kits for ₹600 a piece from other companies.
Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the wife of Assam CM had on June 21 filed a ₹100-crore defamation case against Sisodia, who had alleged corruption in giving PPE kit supply contracts at above market rates. In this regard, the chief minister had on August 5 recorded his statement before the court.
According to PTI reports, two media organizations---New Delhi-based 'The Wire' and Guwahati based 'The Crosscurrent' ---in a joint investigation report claimed that the Assam government had placed four Covid-19-related emergency medical supply support orders without following proper process.
"The media portals claimed that all four supply orders placed between March 18 and March 23 in 2020 were bagged by only three firms owned by Bhuyan Sarma and the family's associate Ghanshyan Dhanuka," the report said while citing a series of Right to Information replies.
Hours after the report was published on public platforms, Sarma's wife uploaded a statement on her official Twitter handle dismissing any wrongdoing in supplying the PPE kits to the NHM and claimed she did not take a single penny for the kits.
Separately, the present Assam government and CM Sarma have also denied all charges that the chief minister's family was involved in the alleged malpractices and termed these allegations by the two media portals as "false, imaginary, malicious, and of vested interests". In 2020, Himanta Biswa Sarma was the health minister in the BJP-led state government.
Meanwhile, several opposition parties including Congress, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) Liberation, RCPI, TMC, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, and Anchalik Gana Morcha have demanded a CBI probe into the alleged corruption in giving contracts to Sarma's wife and family business friend to supply PPE kits above market rates.
(With PTI inputs)