Ex-IPS officer Sreekumar files defamation case against Modi

New Delhi: Former Gujarat DGP R B Sreekumar, who had taken on Narendra Modi on the fake encounter issue, on Tuesday filed a defamation and conspiracy case against the BJP PM candidate and other party leaders, accusing them of launching a malicious campaign against him by raking up the two-decade-old ISRO spy case.

The ex-police officer, who has filed nine affidavits in Gujarat riots case and was heading the intelligence wing in the state in 2002, also accused Modi of ordering him to tap the phone of former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankar Singh Vaghela.

The latest allegations come close on heels of the controversy over Modi's aide Amit Shah allegedly ordering surveillance of a woman in Gujarat in 2009.

Comparing Modi to the the villain 'Duryodhana' in epic Mahabharata, Sreekumar said he has filed a defamation case against Modi, BJP chief Rajnath Singh and party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi.

Besides, scientist Nambi Narayan, who had reportedly termed the cop as a 'CIA agent', has also been named in the case. "They indulged in extreme vilification campaign, malicious propaganda against me continuously by raking up a case closed by the NDA and subsequent UPA Governments and also the Supreme Court," Sreekumar told reporters here.

A case of defamation and conspiracy has been filed against the BJP leaders in the Patiala House Court, advocate Brijesh Kalappa, who accompanied the former IAS officer, told reporters.

"The hearing in the matter is listed for November 21," he told PTI. BJP had alleged that Sreekumar had levelled charges of fake encounters against the Modi Government as a quid pro quo for the UPA dispensation giving him a clean chit in ISRO spy case.

Sreekumar today claimed that he became persona non grata after he started to report against the BJP "controlled" government in Gujarat after Modi took over as Chief Minister.

"Don't pursue power through communalisation and unconstitutional methods," he said, hitting out at Modi. Sreekumar said he refused to act on the phone tapping direction of Modi as he did not have any report against Vaghela necessitating such an action.

Kalappa claimed that attempts were being made by the BJP to paint Sreekumar in the black only with a view to see that bulk of his evidence in Zakia Jaffery's petition is trashed, verdict on which is expected on December 2.