Defamation case against former Karnataka top cop dismissed

Bangalore, Sept 29: The defamation case filed against retired director general of police (DGP) C Dinakar by V G Siddhartha, son-in-law of former external affairs minister SM Krishna, was dismissed by a Division Bench of Delhi High Court comprising Justice Gita Mittal and Justice J R Midha last week.

The appeal with costs by Siddhartha was dismissed by the court on September 26, according to a release by former Dinakar on Monday.

The case relates to a book titled 'Veerappan's Prize Catch: Rajkumar', penned by former Dinakar and published by Delhi's Konark Publishers. The book narrated events related to the abduction of late Kannada actor Dr Rajkumar by the forest bandit Veerappan in July 2000 and his detention in the forest for 108 days.

Siddhartha, owner of Coffee Day group of Hotels, filed a civil suit in Delhi High Court after the book was published in November 2002 alleging that certain pages in the book had defamed him. He requested for passing a decree of Rs 50 lakh by paying a court fee of Rs 51,144, a UNI report said.

In February 2007, Justice Shiv Narayan Dhingra of Delhi High Court dismissed the suit as frivolous and awarded Rs 1 lakh payable by Siddhartha. In July that year, the latter filed an appeal by paying a court fee of Rs 51,164, the report added.

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