Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda has been fined Rs 2 Crore in the defamation case.
Referring to the interview telecast by a Kannada news channel on June 28, 2011, the Karnataka court directed the former PM to pay damages of Rs two crore to the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) for losing its reputation on account of derogatory comments made by him.
In an interview in June 2011, Deve Gowda commented on the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise and he had called it a ‘loot’. Representatives of the company have filed a defamation petition in court alleging that the remarks were defamatory. The tribunal which heard the case ordered the JDS supremo to pay a fine of Rs 2 crore.
Meanwhile, NICE has demanded Rs 10 crore from Deve Gowda as compensation. The court also ruled that Deve Gowda had failed to substantiate his contention in an interview on Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise. The Eighth City Civil and Sessions Judge, Mallanagouda, pronounced this verdict on June 17.