Biju Janata Dal leader Pinaki Misra has filed a defamation suit against Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai for levelling corruption allegations against him and for calling the BJD MP “Canning Lane”, “Odia Babu” and “Dalal of Puri”.
The defamation suit sought an apology from Dehadrai, apart from damages. It further sought directions to restrain the lawyer from making defamatory allegations against Misra, along with orders to take down the derogatory content available on X (formerly Twitter), and on the platforms of news organisations such as PTI and ANI.
The suit alleged that Misra, an MP from Odisha’s Puri constituency, shared a close friendship with Dehadrai’s former partner and Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra.
As per the suit, Misra became acquainted with Dehadrai through common friends and social circles, and had limited interactions with him.
It said that after Dehadrai and Moitra separated, the lawyer made various allegations of bribery and corruption against Moita. Dehadrai further referred to Misra as the “MP from Orissa”, who was allegedly a “close associate of Smt Mahua Moitra”.
In November 2023, Defendant No. 1 (Dehadrai) made a barrage of allegations not only against Ms Moitra, but persons with whom she shared a personal relationship, including the Plaintiff, it added.
The plaintiff said that Dehadrai started publishing a series of tweets on X in November 2023, in which Misra was repeatedly identified through pseudonyms such as “Canning Lane” and “Oriya/Odia Babu”. The tweets further alleged that Misra was involved in criminal conspiracies.
Filed through Advocate Samudra Sarangi, the petition contended that a complaint filed by Dehadrai before CBI alleged that an amount of Rs 2 crore was kept with Misra to make purchases on behalf of Moitra of high-value items such as furniture.
However, the furniture was bought by Misra for his own use, prior to the time (May 2021) when the cash was allegedly given to him by Moitra as per the CBI complaint, it added.
The petitioner contended that Dehadrai further created a pseudonymous account on Defendant No. 4’s platform by the name of “Chandrawami Pinaki Moitra”/“Ahmed Ansari”, through which he continued to post such vile, malicious and defamatory allegations. The lawyer further commented to confirm that the use of “Canning Lane”/“Odia Babu”/“Dalal of Puri” in his tweets referred to the Plaintiff, added the plaintiff.
Earlier, Mahua Moitra had sued Dehadrai for defamation. However, the High Court had denied interim relief to the AITC leader in the suit. Dehadrai has also filed a defamation case against Moitra. The High Court is seized of the matter.