BJP’s Dhullu Mahto sends legal notice to Saryu Roy
Dhullu Mahto, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the Dhanbad constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, sent a legal notice to the independent MLA from Jamshedpur (East), Saryu Roy, for allegedly making false and fabricated charges against the former during a press conference that was also broadcast live on Facebook.
In the legal notice, Mahto also demanded a public apology from Roy, failing which they will have no option other than to file a defamation suit against him.
Mahto’s lawyer, Niraj Kumar Bishiar, in the legal notice addressed to Saryu Roy, claimed that during the press conference, Roy alleged that over 50 criminal cases are pending against his client (Dhullu Mahto) in different courts of Law Dhanbad, which is factually wrong and without any base or foundation. Bishair also mentioned that if there is any reality to these claims, the case numbers and court IDs should have been provided.
The notice read, “In the same press conference, you are pointing fingers without any tangible evidence that Shri Dhullu Mahto committed the Gunda Gardi in his locality, which is derogatory remarks against the three-time elected MLA. This was done intentionally and purposefully to malign his social and political reputation.”
“In the press conference, you have levelled a variety of allegations and stated that my client was involved in a coal extortion business, which is perfunctory, far from reality, and reflects your feudalistic mindset against the backward community and poor people in the locality.”
“The entire press conference is a reflection of defamation of the social, political, and intellectual career of my client, which caused very hurtful feelings to his family and the entire backward community in the locality,” the notice further stated.
It added that the press conference was designed solely to “harm the public reputation and impugn the political career of Mahto in Dhanbad district”.
When contacted, Dhullu confirmed the legal notice sent by his lawyer, stating, “It was sent due to false and fabricated allegations made by Saryu Roy against me in a press conference.”
Meanwhile, responding to the legal notice through a press release, Roy said, “The legal notice is not worth responding to, and I have thrown it in the dustbin after tearing it apart.”
“Instead of threatening to file a defamation case against me after responding to the legal notice, if Dhullu Mahto has the guts, he should have directly filed the defamation petition,” said Roy, adding that sending a legal notice to him is a political strategy aimed at diverting people’s attention from the pending cases against him.
“In the legal notice, Dhullu Mahto has accused me of having a feudalistic mindset against the backward community, but I can make pamphlets on allegations against him, quoting incidents where he has not only committed atrocities against the backward caste people but also against people of his caste,” said the Jamshedpur legislator.
“The state in charge of BJP and other leaders should know that the pendency of 46 cases against Mahto has been informed to the High Court by the Senior SP of Dhanbad earlier, and four more cases have been lodged against him. So, I would like to repeat here that Mahto has a half-century of cases against him,” Roy concluded.