BJD MP Pinaki Misra sues advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai for defamation in Delhi High Court

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Member or Parliament Pinaki Misra has sued advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai for defamation after the latter levelled allegations of corruption against him and called him “Canning Lane”, “Odia Babu” and “Dalal of Puri”. .Misra has also sought an apology from Dehadrai and damages.Misra has sought directions to restrain Dehadrai from making defamatory allegations against him along with orders to take down the defamatory content available on X (Twitter) as well as on the platforms of news organisations PTI and ANI..In his suit, the MP from Odisha's Puri constituency has said that he shares a close friendship with Dehadrai’s former partner and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra and became acquainted with Dehadrai through common friends, social circles and has had limited interactions with him.The suit stated that as Dehadrai and Moitra separated, Dehadrai made various allegations of bribery and corruption against Moita and he also referred to Misra as the “MP from Orissa”, who was allegedly a “close associate of Smt Mahua Moitra”.“Thereafter, in November 2023, Defendant No. 1 (Dehadrai) continued making a barrage of allegations not only against Ms Moitra, but persons with whom she shared a personal relationship, including the Plaintiff,” the suit said. .It contended that in November 2023, Dehadrai started publishing a series of tweets on X (Twitter) in which Misra was repeatedly identified through pseudonyms like “Canning Lane” and “Oriya/Odia Babu” and it was alleged that he (Misra) was involved in criminal conspiracies.The suit said that Dehadrai’s CBI complaint also alleges that an amount of ₹2 crore was kept with Misra to make purchases on behalf of Moitra of high value items such furniture.However, the furniture was bought by him for his own use prior to the time (May 2021) when the cash was allegedly given to him by Moitra as per the CBI complaint, the plea said.“The Defendant No. 1 has also created a pseudonymous account on Defendant No. 4’s platform by the name of “Chandrawami Pinaki Moitra” / “Ahmed Ansari”, through which Defendant No. 1 has not only continued to post such vile, malicious and per se defamatory allegations, but has also commented to confirm that the use of “Canning Lane”/“Odia Babu”/“Dalal of Puri” in Defendant No. 1’s tweets refers to the Plaintiff.”.The defamation case has been filed through advocate Samudra Sarangi..Notably, earlier Mahua Moitra had sued Dehadrai for defamation. However, the High Court had denied interim relief to the TMC leader in the suit.Dehadrai has also filed a defamation case against Moitra. The High Court is still seized of the matter.