The Congress party has served a defamation notice to news channel CNN-News 18 for broadcasting a programme where the anchor had linked the Gandhi family with the multi-crore AgustaWestland scam, reported India Legal. The notice states that the information aired on its live show ”India at 9” was not based on any facts, and it had tarnished the reputation of the party, its President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

According to the notice, in the programme aired on December 12, 2016, anchor Zakka Jacob talked about a “new note written by Agusta middleman and signed by Christen Michel and Guido Haschke”. Jacob said the “note refers to 28-million deal with the family”. He further said that the family in question was not that of the former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi, but the Gandhi family. The news anchor said officials had told the channel that the Central Bureau of Investigation was pursuing this line of investigation.

He also said that he had information that indicated that the Gandhi family would be questioned on the basis of the new document. Besides Jacob, the notice names five other people including the CEO of the company and channel correspondent Manoj Gupta. The party has sought an apology from the channel for the programme, and asked the company to remove all references to it from its website, blogs and social media accounts.