The ruling DMK on Sunday sent a legal notice to BJP state president K. Annamalai asking him to tender an unconditional public apology for his recent speech and corruption allegations against DMK president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and pay damages to the tune of ₹500 crores within 48 hours.
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The notice sent by Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson on behalf of the party and Mr. Stalin demanded that the apology should be published with the same prominence in “any national English newspaper and regional Tamil newspaper, all national and regional TV channels, as well as on your social media pages.”
The notice called upon Mr. Annamalai to remove the offending video of the said media address titled ‘DMK files’ found on his social media pages including his Facebook page.
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“Failing which our client will be constrained to initiate appropriate civil and criminal proceedings against you and your properties, holding you personally liable for all costs and consequences arising therefrom,” the notice said.
Recalling the allegations that “DMK has looted people’s money in an incomparable level and it far exceeds that of Robert Clive”, the notice said such statements were prima facie defamatory and baseless.
Mr. Stalin was quoted as saying in the notice that courts had held that when allegations were made against an individual that attacks his character or reputation, even an individual in public life, the allegations had to be on the basis of verifiable facts.
“In the present case, you have offered no basis for your allegations and therefore, you have not met the legal threshold for verification. In such a situation, you are liable to be prosecuted in law for defamation. You are therefore liable to pay compensation for damages suffered by the party and the party president to their good name and impeccable reputation,” the notice said.
According to the notice, the damages are tentatively valued at ₹200 crores for the reputation of the party president and ₹300 crores for the reputation of the party.