Union Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah's lawyer, Brijesh Jha, appeared before a special MP/MLA court in Kolkata's Bidhannagar in a defamation case filed against the minister by West Bengal Trinamool Congress MP and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew, Abhishek Banerjee.
Shah's lawyer said that the address in the summon issued to Shah to appear for the case was incorrect. The summon was issued in the address of the BJP head office in Kolkata. However, that is not Shah's residential or official address, said his lawyer.
Responding to Shah's counsel, the MP/MLA court has returned the case and has transferred it to the Bankshall Metropolitan Court, as per Jha.
On 19 February, a special Kolkata court for MPs and MLAs issued a summon to Shah in connection to a defamation case against him by Banerjee.
The court asked Shah to appear in-person or send a representative for a hearing on 22 February.
The case pertains to a rally in August 2018 when Amit Shah had made certain comments about Abhishek.
"... Narada, Sarada, Rose Valley, Syndicate's Corruption, Nephew's corruption, a series of corruption has been by Mamataji," Shah allegedly said about Abhishek, at the rally in Kolkata.
"The residents of the villages in Bengal, has the money reached your village? Please say loudly. Has the money reached your village? Where did it go? Where? Modiji had sent it. Where did Rs 3,59,000 crore go? This has been gifted to the nephew and the syndicate. This has been sacrificed at the altar of corruption by the Trinamool Congress," Shah further said according to Abhishek's complaint.
In response to these statements, Banerjee had filed a defamation case against Shah on 28 August 2018.
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