Jay Shah defamation case: All accused deny allegations, says lawyer of BJP chief's son; trial to begin from 17 March

Ahmedabad: All the accused in a case filed by BJP president Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah over an article published by news portal The Wire relating to his company denied the allegation of criminal defamation against them on Saturday, according to Jay Shah’s lawyer. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SK Gadhvi recorded the statements of the accused on Saturday, his lawyer Prakash Patel said. With the accused denying the allegation that they indulged in criminal defamation, the trial will start from the next hearing on 17 March with Jay Shah’s examination, he said. [caption id=“attachment_4158281” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of BJP chief Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah. AFP[/caption] Jay Shah had moved court alleging criminal defamation by the accused after the article published by the website claimed his company’s turnover grew exponentially following the BJP-led government coming to power at the Centre in 2014. Shah filed the criminal defamation case against the author of the article Rohini Singh, founding editors of the news portal Siddharth Varadarajan, Siddharth Bhatia and MK Venu, managing editor Monobina Gupta, public editor Pamela Philipose and the owner of the portal, Foundation for Independent Journalism. The accused had earlier moved the Gujarat High Court to get the case quashed, but got no relief. Jay Shah has separately filed a civil defamation suit of Rs 100 crore against the website over the article.