Mumbai Medha Somaiya, the wife of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya, on Monday filed a defamation suit against Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut for accusing her of being involved in the ‘toilet scam’ in an article published in the Marathi newspaper ‘Saamana’, of which the Rajya Sabha member is the editor in chief. She has sought ₹100 crore in damages.
In her complaint, Medha Somaiya said that she came across the “defamatory” article in Saamna wherein she has been accused of building unauthorised toilets by cutting mangroves without getting the requisite permissions from environmental authorities. The article has further stated that she was involved in a scam of ₹100 crore and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner (BMC) Iqbal Singh Chahal submitted a report to that effect to the state government.
The suit alleges that the defamatory article was picked up by other print and electronic media to create an impression in the minds of the public that she had committed a toilet scam of ₹100 crore.
In light of this, the suit states, “These defendants (Raut and others) have denigrated and tarnished image of the plaintiff (Somaiya) in the eyes of the general public, etc. …such imputation which by itself harms her reputation is per se defamatory and actionable.”
The suit further claims that the article in Saamna also implied that she had siphoned public money under the garb of constructing toilets and that her NGO ‘Yuva Pratisthan’ was fake and fraudulent.
She has further stated that after her letter to Raut to tender an unconditional apology for the allegations made in the article came to nought, she had addressed a letter to the Senior Inspector of Police, Mulund to register an FIR against Raut for making defamatory statements. However, when even that was not heeded she approached Metropolitan Magistrate at Mazgaon and sought initiation of criminal proceedings against Raut for defaming her.
The suit alleges that the purported defamatory comments and statements in the article were aimed at sensationalism and a view to tarnish her image.
In light of the same, Somaiya has sought directions from the court to make Raut deposit a sum of ₹100 crore in the chief minister relief fund or any other fund which the court deems fit and to retract the article and publish an unqualified apology to Somaiya which is prominently displayed on the front page of the newspaper.
Somaiya has also sought a permanent injunction against Raut from making or republishing article/s in any manner defamatory against the plaintiff. The suit is expected to come up for hearing in due course.