Rajasthan minister Narendra Singh Bhati files defamation suit against Maneka Gandhi

He was not the first, but no one from his party had done it before. On December 23, Narendra Singh Bhati, Rajasthan's deputy tourism minister, filed a civil suit against Mrs Gandhi's daughter-in-law Maneka for publishing an allegedly defamatory piece about him in her monthlySurya India.Three others apart from Maneka - her mother, publisher Amteshwar Anand, Executive Editor Sushmita Ghosh and Youngmen Printers and Publishers - are defendants in a suit where the claim for damages is Rs 3 lakh. The hearing of the case in which Bhati has deposited Rs 26,250 as court fees has been fixed for January 2.

The controversial 66-word item in the November issue appeared under the heading "Scotching Allegations" in the magazine's political gossip column "Off the Air". Bhati, the item read "will probably have to order a new cupboard - his old one is simply brimming with skeletons." It went on to allege that one Padam Singh was murdered on the farm belonging to Bhati's father. Colonel Mohan Singh. According to the magazine, an enquiry was "hushed up, however, as Bhati was a minister during the Janata regime."