A Delhi court on Friday reserved its order on whether to summon Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, The Caravan’s editor and a reporter as accused in a defamation plea filed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s son Vivek Doval, PTI reported. The court said it will pass an order on March 2.
Vivek Doval had filed the criminal complaint after an article in the magazine claimed he had run a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands, which is a tax haven. Editor-in-Chief of The Caravan Paresh Nath, reporter Kaushal Shroff and Congress MP Jairam Ramesh were named in the complaint filed at the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal at the Patiala House Courts complex.
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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