While the court has given bail to Caravan's editor and the author on personal bonds of Rs 20,000 each, the court refused to give relief to Ramesh. Ramesh had asked for exemption from personal appearance in court which was denied on Thursday
New Delhi: The 'D Company' article in Caravan magazine which alleged that NSA Ajit Doval's son Vivek Doval's runs a hedge fund in the tax haven of Cayman Islands and that he has a number of cross-holding business interests with his elder brother, linking this "web" with demonetisation, has finally come back to bite the editor and the author of the contentious article.
Apart from the two, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who repeated the allegations later in a press conference, too has been denied any relief from the court. Vivek had moved a Delhi court and slapped a criminal defamation case against the three mentioned above on January 22 at Patiala House court. He had recorded his statement on January 30. The article was published on January 16.
MyNation was the first to break the story.
While the court has given bail to Caravan's editor and the author on personal bonds of Rs 20,000 each, the court refused to give relief to Ramesh. Ramesh had asked for exemption from personal appearance in court which was denied on Thursday. The next hearing in the matter is on May 9, when Ramesh would have to be present in person.
Watch: Exclusive interview of Vivek Doval with MyNation
The statements of Doval Jr and his partners Amit Sharma and Nikhil Kapoor were also recorded.
Doval Jr has sued Ramesh and the publication for having “deliberately maligned and defamed” him “seemingly to settle scores with his father”.
Vivek also challenged Ramesh for a public debate on the national media to expose the “hit and run job” of the Congress leader.
The article insinuated that the hedge fund was being used for money laundering and round-tripping of black money. The article had insinuated that Vivek founded a hedge fund, GNY Asia, in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands just 13 days after demonetisation was announced by the Narendra Modi government.
Calling the allegations “completely baseless”, levelled without due diligence, Vivek Doval submitted to the court the entire timeline of the formation of the fund, which prima facie undermines the claims of the Caravan article.
“The entire timeline of my fund, the formal set-up of which began in March 2016 and concluded in December 2016 has been submitted to the court. The vindictiveness is demonstrated by trying to link a legitimate fund manager activity in London to demonetisation in India in November 2016 just because of the word Doval in my name,” Vivek told MyNation.
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