Shanti Bhushan serves notice for defamation on Digvijay Singh

Former law minister Shanti Bhushan in a legal notice served today on Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has demanded a public apology  on his allegations that he had undervalued a property in Allahabad and not paid adequate stamp duty on it.

The senior Supreme Court counsel and a co-chair of the joint committee for drafting the anti-graft Lokpal Bill, sought the apology through a defamation notice served on Singh. A copy of the notice has been sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

According to the notice for defamation, served through advocate Kamini Jaiswal, Singh, in  a T V interview to journalist Karan Thapar had cast aspersions on the integrity of Bhushan.

''In this show you cast an aspersion on the integrity of my client and also suggested that my client had undervalued the property which he had purchased in Allahabad and also not paid adequate stamp duty on it. You also said this raised serious question marks about his not being a suitable person to be on the committee for drafting the Lokpal Bill to fight corruption,'' the notice says.

The notice said that Singh during an interview to NDTV 15 April had alleged that Bhushan pressurised the Allahad property owner to sell it to him at an undervalued price and had also cheated the revenue department by not paying the correct stamp duty.

''You have further said that the government has sent a notice to my client demanding stamp duty of more than Rs.1 crore. All your above statements are false and highly damaging to my client's reputation,'' the notice said.

The notice stated that the conduct of the senior counsel had been  had been exemplary and in accordance with law. It further said that his statements amounted to defamation, both civil and criminal, under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code punishable under Section 500 with imprisonment of up to two years.

"You are, therefore, called upon to immediately publicly apologise for the incorrect allegations made by you against my client, failing which we will be constrained to take proceedings against you both civil and criminal in appropriate courts of law at your risk and cost,'' the notice said.