Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has filed a Rs 100 crore defamation case against Deputy Delhi CM Manish Sisodia on Tuesday, 21 June, who alleged malpractice during the issuance of contracts for PPE kits above market rates.
She filed the suit in the Court of Civil Judge No 1 of the Kamrup Metropolitan district on Tuesday, Bhuyan Sarma’s counsel Padmadhar Nayak said.
While addressing a press meet on 4 June, Manish Sisodia made "some allegations that damaged” Bhuyan Sarma’s “reputation and position,” Advocate Kishor Kumar Dutta said.
"Sisodia unnecessarily dragged the name of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also into the controversy. That is why we have claimed that damage," he added.
Sisodia had told the media that while the Assamese government bought PPE kits for Rs 600 per piece from other companies, the firms of Himanta Biswa’s wife and son’s business partners received an urgent order for Rs 990 each.
The Opposition Congress, Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation (CPI-ML), Revolutionary Communist Party of India (RCPI), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad and Anchalik Gana Morcha have demanded a CBI probe into the alleged corruption.
Digital media portals – The Wire based in New Delhi and Guwahati-based The Crosscurrent in a joint investigative report on 1 June claimed that the Assam government placed four COVID-19 related emergency medical supply order, most probably without proper processes being followed .
The media organisations, citing a series of replies to Right to Information enquires between 18 and 23 March 2020, claimed that all four orders were bagged by three firms, which were owned by Riniki Bhuyan Sarma and the family’s business associate Ghanshyam Dhanuka.
In a tweet, Bhuyan Sarma refuted any wrongdoing and said she did not take a "single penny.” She further attached an acknowledgment from the National Health Mission, Assam.
Sarma and the current Assam government separately denied all charges and called the allegations "false, imaginary, malicious and of vested interests."
Sarma was the health and family welfare minister in 2020 during the first BJP-led state government.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)