UP Minister sends defamation notice to AAP's Sanjay Singh for alleging multi-crore scam

Uttar Pradesh Jal Shakti Minister Mahendra Singh on Wednesday sent a defamation notice to Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh for alleging his involvement in a multi-crore scam. Flagging purported corruption in the implementation of Rs.1.20 lakh crore Jal Jeevan Mission in UP, Sanjay Singh claimed on August 8 that the minister gave the contract of supplying pipes to a company that has been allegedly blacklisted by eight state governments. The Jal Jeevan Mission aims at providing safe drinking water to all households in rural India by 2024 through individual household tap connections.

For the implementation of this scheme, the Centre allocated Rs.1,206 crore to UP in 2019-20 which was increased to Rs.2,571 crore in 2020-21. The AAP MP also accused Mahendra Singh of awarding the tender at an inflated rate of 40% more than the original quotation. Rubbishing these allegations, the senior BJP leader stressed that the AAP MP had not provided any evidence to back his claim.

"The disparaging remarks made by you publicly against my client have and will lower the dignity of my client and damage my client's reputation in the eyes of the public. That your deliberate actions of making false and malicious allegations against my client in public clearly reveal your ulterior motive for demeaning and slandering the image of my client Dr Mahendra Singh", his legal counsel stated in the defamation notice. Addressing the specific allegation, it mentioned that it was impossible for the UP Minister to indulge in corruption worth Rs.30,000 crore when only Rs.3,000 crore have been paid as a part of the scheme.

He also alleged that Sanjay Singh had misinterpreted the letters of BJP MLAs Ajay Kumar and Ajay Singh to level the corruption charges. Furthermore, Mahendra Singh affirmed that no tender had been issued for pipe supply thereby negating the "inflated rate" charge. According to him, the AAP MP's tweets has a massive ramification on BJP and the Yogi Adityanath-led government as the image of senior leaders is valuable for any party. 

Sanjay Singh asked to retract allegations

The notice read, "Whereby you are hereby called upon by this legal notice to withdraw your defamatory and malicious remarks by publishing and publicly apologizing before the public on the social media platform as well as in Public/Press and withdrawing the name of my client from the contents of the social media within fifteen days of receipt of this legal notice, failing which my client will be constrained to take appropriate legal action against you including prosecuting you for criminal defamation in the competent court of law at your risk, cost and consequences."