Sex CD row: Singhvi, ex-driver settle out of court

New Delhi: Leading advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi and his former driver, accused of providing an alleged CD pertaining to the Congress leader to a media group, today told Delhi High Court that they have amicably settled the matter between them. Justice Reva Khetrapal passed a consent decree in the civil suit filed by Singhvi and a former colleague of his, Abhimanyu Bhandari, against the driver and a media house after the court was informed about the settlement between them. Justice Khetrapal, who on 13 April had passed an ex-parte order restraining the media group and the driver from publishing, telecasting and broadcasting the contents of the CD, today recorded the statement of Mukesh Lal, the former driver. Counsel for Aaj Tak, Headlines Today and India Today, told the court that they will handover the alleged CD to the person who provided it to them. [caption id=“attachment_281538” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=" Leading advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi and his former driver, accused of providing an alleged CD said that they have amicably settled the matter between them. PTI"]  [/caption] Singhvi’s counsel told the court that in the light of the settlement arrived at between the parties he would withdraw the police complaint against Lal. The court also took note of Lal’s reply in which he apologised for sending “threatening SMSes” to the lawyer. “…The CD was sent by me in a fit of rage and vengeance to demand it back as nobody has a right to those CDs. Firstly, the camera was used illegally and secondly, the CDs were doctored and morphed in such a manner so as to deliberately show plaintiff 2 (Singhvi) in a bad light,” the driver, in his 6-page reply, said. Earlier on 16 April, the court had restrained the media house from publishing, telecasting and broadcasting the contents of the CD. “Irreparable injury is likely to be caused to the reputation and goodwill of plaintiff 2 (Singhvi) in case the defendants are not restrained from disseminating the information allegedly in their possession in the form of a CD…,” the court had said. Singhvi and Bhandari had moved the court saying they have come to know about it through some political leaders that the media house was in possession of the alleged CD. They had alleged that the CD was “forged, concocted, morphed and fabricated”. Any move to telecast the alleged CD would infringe the right to reputation of Singhvi, the plea said. PTI