SP sends legal notice to BJP's Nishikant Dubey for X post 'defaming' Akhilesh

Lucknow, Jul 7 (PTI) The Samajwadi Party has sent a legal notice to BJP Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey over his social media post allegedly linking Ramshankar alias Tinnu Yadav, one of the eight accused arrested in the Ayodhya donation theft case, with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. Samajwadi Adhivakta Sabha president Krishna Kanhaiya Pal on Tuesday told PTI that a legal notice for "defamation, character assassination and publication of malicious content" against SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has been sent to BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. Pal's five-page notice served to Dubey reads: "You noticee (Nishikant Dubey) have shared such defamatory contents/remarks to cause intentional hatred towards Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav ji, thereby directly inciting hatred against the Samajwadi Party, hence seditious in nature." Pal demanded Dubey's apology be published "in favour" of the SP and Akhilesh Yadav in two weeks. Asked what led to the legal notice to Dubey, Pal said, "The reason is (Dubey) linking Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and re-posting a post, which sought to link the two." The controversy started with Dubey's July 5 X post. "Was Tinnu talking to Tipu?" Dubey had posted while reposting a July 4 X post of Saravanaprasad Balasubramanian. In that post, Balasubramanian said: "The alleged contact between Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav has made the Ram Temple donation theft case even more sensational." "According to police investigation and mobile call detail record analysis, Tinnu Yadav was reportedly in regular contact with Akhilesh Yadav, speaking with him once or twice almost daily. The records also reportedly show that just one day before his arrest, Tinnu Yadav spoke with Akhilesh Yadav three times over the phone," Balasubramanian's post said. It further claimed that Tinnu Yadav, a tempo driver by profession, had allegedly gained the trust of the Ram Temple authorities by posing as a VHP worker and was entrusted with collecting and counting donations by devotees. "If these reported phone contacts are accurate, their nature and purpose of this communication deserve a thorough and impartial investigation. Why they were in such frequent contact is a serious question that investigators should examine carefully," Balasubramanian said on X. Reacting to the notice sent to him, Dubey in a post on X in Hindi on Tuesday said, "Akhilesh ji, @yadavakhilesh lawyers like this are bringing you into disrepute. If you have been defamed, the legal notice would naturally have to come from you, that is what the law says. I was a member of the committee that drafted this law, so I am informed about it. "What state have you got yourself into? Why don't you take something? At the very least, take a Vicks tablet." Pal rebutted Dubey, pointing towards point 13 of the defamation notice: "That after the defamatory, derogatory and offensive and casteist remark shared by you (noticee) from your verified X account, my image is lowered in the eyes of the general public." Pal added that presently he heads Samajwadi Adhivakta Sabha, a frontal organisation of Samajwadi Party and a practising advocate at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. He said that it appears that Dubey has not properly read the notice served to him, and made defamatory remarks against him. "All these things (including X post of Nishikant Dubey) will be submitted to the court of law, when the defamation suit and criminal complaint will be filed before it," he said. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday had threatened legal action against Dubey over the social media post on Ramshankar. In his X post, Akhilesh Yadav had warned that a police complaint would be filed if the false post by Dubey was not deleted immediately. "Respecting the dignity of Lord Ram, social decorum, civility and parliamentary traditions, we give the BJP MP 10 minutes to delete this false post. Otherwise, an FIR will be lodged against him immediately," Yadav said in his X post tagging Dubey. Police sources have described Tinnu Yadav as one of the principal figures in the alleged donation theft conspiracy. Initially appointed as the personal driver of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai, police claim he had unauthorised access to the keys of the donation-counting room and donation boxes, enabling manipulation of the counting process. His wife Poonam Yadav claimed on Sunday that Tinnu was innocent and had been framed in the case to shield "prominent people". PTI NAV KSS KSS