City court restrains Sanjay, aides from \'defaming\' KTR

HYDERABAD: A city court granted ex-parte interim injunction orders restraining BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar and his party activists from making or publishing any defamatory, libellous or scandalous statements against minister K.T. Rama Rao.

The interim order was given on a suit filed by Rama Rao against Sanjay for defamation by the second additional chief judge, City Civil Court, Hyderabad, on Friday.

The order restrained Sanjay and his associates from publishing defamatory statements either on any public or private platform, including print and electronic media, social media and in meetings, interviews and on TVs. Rama Rao stated that Sanjay, with an intent to tarnish his image and defame his reputation, was levelling baseless allegations against him and making malicious statements.

Rama Rao submitted a Tweet by Sanjay in which the BJP leader had said that 27 Intermediate students died by suicide due to Rama Rao because, on his recommendations, an inexperienced agency was given the task of answer paper evaluation and it had done it improperly. In the Tweet, Sanjay had also mentioned that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had done nothing on this issue.

Rama Rao, in his petition, had asked how could a leader of a national party and a member of Parliament make such statements without evidence. The minister submitted to the court that such statements might defame his reputation.