MP Congress leader gets 2 years in jail
State Congress chief spokesperson KK Mishra on Friday was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in a defamation case by a district court in Bhopal.
The defamation suit was filed by a public prosecutor, Anand Tiwari, on behalf of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in 2014.
In June 2014, Mishra had levelled serious allegations against Chouhan and his wife, Sadhna Singh, in connection with the transport department’s constable recruitment test, a part of the multi-layered Vyapam scam.
The judgment on Friday was delivered by additional district and sessions judge Kashinath Singh. A fine of ₹25,000 was also imposed on Mishra. On failure to deposit the fine, he will have to undergo imprisonment for three more months.
Mishra had alleged that many of the transport constables recruited by Vyapam were from Maharashtra’s Gondia district, where Sadhna hails from. But Mishra was unable to provide any documents to substantiate his claims.
On Friday, after being granted bail, Mishra said, “I will move the high court to challenge the judgment. I will fight till my last breath. It is the first time in independent India that a person has been convicted for trying to expose corruption.”
Meanwhile, Chouhan called the judgment “a victory of truth”.
Tiwari also said that the court found the allegations levelled by Mishra against Chouhan baseless and defamatory, and that he couldn’t prove any of his charges.
In his defence, Mishra made an appeal before the court that he had not levelled any defamatory allegations against Chouhan or any of his relatives. After this, notices were served by the court against several journalists, including editors of many newspapers, to depose before the court. They were subjected to cross-examination by Mishra’s lawyer.
Earlier, the Supreme Court turned down Mishra’s plea to transfer the case to another competent court.
The Jabalpur high court had also rejected his plea.
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