NEW DELHI: News channel NDTV has been sued by Anil Ambani‘s Reliance Group on Thursday for Rs 10,000 crore for the channel’s coverage of the fighter jet Rafale deal.
CEO of the NDTV Group, Suparna Singh tweeted on October 18, “NDTV has been sued by Anil Ambani’s Reliance for 10,000 crores in an AHMEDABAD court. For our coverage of Rafale. We will fight this brazen attempt at harassment and intimidation.”
NDTV has been sued by Anil Ambani’s Reliance for 10,000 crores in an AHMEDABAD court. For our coverage of Rafale. We will fight this brazen attempt at harassment and intimidation.
— Suparna Singh (@Suparna_Singh) October 18, 2018
The defamation suit was filed in an Ahmedabad court based on an episode of NDTV’s weekly show t ‘Truth vs Hype’, that aired on September 29. The hearing has been listed for October 26th.
The NDTV has denied all the charges and said it “will argue that the charges of defamation are nothing more than a heavy-handed attempt by Anil Ambani’s group to suppress the facts and prevent the media from doing its job – asking questions about a defence deal and seeking answers that are very much in public interest.”
In statement NDTV said, “As the Rafale deal has become a larger news story in India, the Reliance group has been on a notice-serving spree; to sue a news company for 10,000 crores in a court in Gujarat on false and frivolous charges, ignoring facts that are widely reported everywhere and not just by NDTV, can only be interpreted as an unsophisticated warning to the media to stop doing its job.”
[also_read url=”https://www.siasat.com/news/ed-issues-show-cause-notice-ndtv-fema-violation-1421834/”]ED issues show-cause notice to NDTV for FEMA violation[/also_read]
Earlier on October 18, Enforcement Directorate issues show-cause notice to the leading news channel for allegedly flouting foreign exchange regulations in availing of overseas and foreign direct investment facilities of over Rs 4,300 crore.
NDTV, however, has refuted the allegations against it.