Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia summoned to Assam in a defamation suit by Himanta Biswa

way2barak, Nov.07: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has been summoned on November 19 by a local court in Assam to appear for hearing in a criminal defamation case filed by Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma.

In July, CM Dr. Sarma filed a defamation complaint against Sisodia under Sections 499, 500, and 501 of the Indian Penal Code for allegations alleging malpractice by the former when awarding a contract for the provision of PPE kits. Sisodia claimed that Sarma, when he was a health minister in 2020, had awarded his wife’s firm an urgent contract for the provision of PPE kits at rates higher than the market price. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Sarma allegedly made urgent supply orders for PPE kits to firms in which his wife and son were partners at the rate of 990 per piece, while the state government purchased those kits from other companies at a lower rate of ₹ 600 apiece from another company on the same day.

Meanwhile, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma had said, “I did not take a single penny out of this supply. I have always been transparent about my belief in giving back to the society, irrespective of my husband’s political standing. My organisation has also supported the NHM in the fight against COVID-19 by donating to the Aarogya Nidhi.”