New Delhi: Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar has approached the Delhi High Court, seeking to direct news portal The Wire to take down a defamatory article alleging links between Kumar’s son, Karan Chauhan, in a case related to the enhanced valuation of land acquired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the Dwarka Expressway road project.
The article suggested a connection between Karan Chauhan and Aman Sarin, promoter of realty firm Anantraj Limited, raising questions about the land compensation awarded.
During the hearing before Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri, Kumar, represented by senior advocates Maninder Singh and Rajshekhar Rao, emphasized the adverse impact of the article on social media and its contradiction to the actual record. Singh argued that Kumar had promptly addressed the overvaluation issue, directing an inquiry and referring the case to the CBI.
The case will be heard again on November 21, 2023.
In a legal notice sent on November 13, Kumar termed the contents of The Wire’s article as misleading, defamatory, and divorced from true facts. He asserted that he had taken voluntary cognizance of the overvaluation to prevent wrongful loss to the public exchequer.
Notably, Delhi’s vigilance minister, Atishi Marlena, recently recommended the removal of Kumar and the divisional commissioner Ashwani Kumar, alleging prima facie complicity in the land acquisition matter.
