GUWAHATI: Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the spouse of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has filed a Rs 10 crore defamation swimsuit towards Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi for “false” allegations of irregularities in a meals processing venture.
Senior advocate Devajit Saikia, her counsel, stated the case has been filed on the Court of Civil Judge (senior division) of Kamrup Metropolitan on Friday and it is going to be moved on September 26.
“My client has claimed a defamation of Rs 10 crore against Gaurav Gogoi for various tweets on X. We have made it very clear that we never made any application to receive subsidy,” he added.
Saikia additional claimed that the method to hunt subsidy has not been initiated in any respect and for which, a show-cause discover was slapped on his shopper’s agency on May 26 this yr, adopted by an electronic mail from the ministry of meals processing.
“The approval for the project was given on November 22, 2022. In the last email, we were told that our claim would lapse if we didn’t submit our proposal. We are not responding to anything to seek subsidy,” he added.
Whatever Gogoi said on social media about Sarma and her entity ‘Pride East Entertainments’, that info was not primarily based on info, claimed the senior advocate.
“He (Gogoi) did not do his homework. Getting approval for a project does not mean that a subsidy has been received. We will fight the case tooth and nail,” he asserted.
An enormous controversy erupted after Guwahati-based digital media ‘The Crosscurrent’ printed a report alleging that over 50 bighas (practically 17 acres) of agricultural land at Darigaji village in Kaliabor in Nagaon district was reclassified as industrial land inside a month after it was purchased by Pride East Entertainments, by which the chief minister’s spouse is the chairman and managing director.
Following this, Gogoi, in a collection of tweets for a number of days, introduced allegations of corruption towards Sarma and his spouse in getting central authorities subsidy for the venture.
The deputy chief of Congress within the Lok Sabha sought the intervention of Union commerce and trade minister Piyush Goyal in bringing info out within the open relating to subsidy for the venture beneath the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) and Scheme for Creation of Infrastructure for Agro Clusters.
The Assam MP additionally identified that on March 22, 2023, Goyal in a reply to questions within the Lok Sabha on the federal government’s initiative to put money into Assam so as to help the promotion of industries, offered a listing of meals processing initiatives supported beneath the element of PMKSY as on January 31, 2022.
“At Serial No 7 of the list, the name of M/S Pride East Entertainment Pvt Ltd has been mentioned. Pertinently, the amount of approved Grant-in-Aid is mentioned as Rs 10 crore. The list of beneficiaries can also be found on the website of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries,” he added.
Gogoi’s claims have been vehemently challenged by the chief minister, who was engaged in a protracted duel with the Congress chief on X. His spouse had threatened to sue the MP alleging defamation. PTI
Senior advocate Devajit Saikia, her counsel, stated the case has been filed on the Court of Civil Judge (senior division) of Kamrup Metropolitan on Friday and it is going to be moved on September 26.
“My client has claimed a defamation of Rs 10 crore against Gaurav Gogoi for various tweets on X. We have made it very clear that we never made any application to receive subsidy,” he added.
Saikia additional claimed that the method to hunt subsidy has not been initiated in any respect and for which, a show-cause discover was slapped on his shopper’s agency on May 26 this yr, adopted by an electronic mail from the ministry of meals processing.
“The approval for the project was given on November 22, 2022. In the last email, we were told that our claim would lapse if we didn’t submit our proposal. We are not responding to anything to seek subsidy,” he added.
Whatever Gogoi said on social media about Sarma and her entity ‘Pride East Entertainments’, that info was not primarily based on info, claimed the senior advocate.
“He (Gogoi) did not do his homework. Getting approval for a project does not mean that a subsidy has been received. We will fight the case tooth and nail,” he asserted.
An enormous controversy erupted after Guwahati-based digital media ‘The Crosscurrent’ printed a report alleging that over 50 bighas (practically 17 acres) of agricultural land at Darigaji village in Kaliabor in Nagaon district was reclassified as industrial land inside a month after it was purchased by Pride East Entertainments, by which the chief minister’s spouse is the chairman and managing director.
Following this, Gogoi, in a collection of tweets for a number of days, introduced allegations of corruption towards Sarma and his spouse in getting central authorities subsidy for the venture.
The deputy chief of Congress within the Lok Sabha sought the intervention of Union commerce and trade minister Piyush Goyal in bringing info out within the open relating to subsidy for the venture beneath the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) and Scheme for Creation of Infrastructure for Agro Clusters.
The Assam MP additionally identified that on March 22, 2023, Goyal in a reply to questions within the Lok Sabha on the federal government’s initiative to put money into Assam so as to help the promotion of industries, offered a listing of meals processing initiatives supported beneath the element of PMKSY as on January 31, 2022.
“At Serial No 7 of the list, the name of M/S Pride East Entertainment Pvt Ltd has been mentioned. Pertinently, the amount of approved Grant-in-Aid is mentioned as Rs 10 crore. The list of beneficiaries can also be found on the website of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries,” he added.
Gogoi’s claims have been vehemently challenged by the chief minister, who was engaged in a protracted duel with the Congress chief on X. His spouse had threatened to sue the MP alleging defamation. PTI
