Former UN officer Lakshmi Puri sends legal notice to activist Saket Gokhale for tweets alleging accumulation of disproportionate assets

A legal notice has been sent to activist Saket Gokhale by Lakshmi Puri, former Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations, for his tweets which she claimed were "maliciously motivated and laced with canards".

The notice sent to Gokhale through advocate Raian Karanjawala of Karanjwala & Co stated that despite Puri's response on the substantive points of contention raised by Gokhale "continued to send out tweets in order to create a false narrative despite clear clarifications offered on the platform."

Gokhale's tweets hinted that Puri purchased certain property in Switzerland and also had references to Puri's spouse, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

"You have alleged how my client could buy a house in Geneva, Switzerland with her then income and to substantiate you allegation you have resorted to fudging and manipulating the information related to sources of incomes," the notice sent on behalf of Puri said.

The notice further stated that Gokhale falsely claimed that Puri's income could have only been Rs 10-12 lakh as she was on deputation from Government of India to UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

"The truth is she was employed by UNCTAD in her individual professional capacity as a Director of its Trade Division for 7 years i.e. from 2002-2009 where she was paid in Swiss francs, and then as an ASG, United Nations at New York from 2011 to 2018 where she was paid in US Dollars­­­­. Her annual salary was over 200,000 USD. She also took a mortgage for the purchase which is still being serviced," the legal notice said.

The notice further stated that UN income is tax free, and what is stated in her Income Tax Return is her taxable Indian income.

"Further details of income and sources for both her and her husband are also detailed in the Affidavit filed by her husband, Mr. Hardeep Puri, who is a public representative, with financial information available in the public domain. To add insult to injury, you have mischievously put her PAN details in the public domain which could be misused causing irreparable harm," read the notice.

Puri, therefore, asked Gokhale to immediately apologise and remove the tweets and give an undertaking that he will not resort to such slanderous behaviour ever in the future.

"Your failure to do so would result in proceedings against you for civil and criminal action and punitive damages for defamation and injury," the notice said.