A court in Delhi took cognisance of the defamation complaint filed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s son Vivek Doval against news magazine The Caravan for allegedly publishing a defamatory article, and posted the matter for hearing on January 30, PTI reported.
Vivek Doval filed the criminal complaint after the magazine accused him of running a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands, which is a tax haven. In addition to Editor-in-Chief Paresh Nath and reporter Kaushal Shroff, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh was also named in the complaint filed at the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal at the Patiala House Courts complex.
On January 30, the statement of witnesses named by Vivek Doval – his friend Nikhil Kapoor and business partner Amit Sharma – will be recorded.
The Caravan report, titled “D-Companies” and published on January 16, had claimed that Vivek Doval ran the hedge fund even as his father advocated a crackdown on entities seeking shelter in such enclaves.
Trade documents accessed by the magazine showed that the fund was registered in the Cayman Islands just 13 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government announced the demonetisation of high-denomination currency notes on November 8, 2016. Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes ceased to be legal tender after the announcement, which pulled 86% of India’s currency out of circulation at the time.
After the publication of the article, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh sought an investigation by the Reserve Bank of India into the hedge fund.
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