Congress leader and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor filed a defamation case against popular journalist Arnab Goswami for 2 crores and 10,000 rupees earlier this week.
Speaking exclusively to Newsd, a close associate of the Member of Parliament said, “Tharoor decided to file the defamation case, against the wishes of many, solely on a matter of principle. For years, he remained silent despite the propaganda against him by vested interests as he is a firm believer of freedom of the media”.
Earlier this month, Republic TV had aired apparent audio tapes between one of the channel’s reporters and an aide of Tharoor’s. The tapes apparently suggest that Pushkar’s body had been moved from one room to another at the Leela Palace Hotel in New Delhi on January 17, 2014, the night she had died.”But everybody knows that Goswami’s recent tirade on Republic TV against Shashi Tharoor was unprofessional, and aimed only at garnering TRPs,” the associate explained.
The argument can further be supported by the truth that Tharoor didn’t file for a hefty 100 cr as in other defamation cases, but only for the minimal amount the Delhi High Court entertains defamation cases for, he added.
“For someone as warmhearted as Shashi Tharoor, who means no malice to anyone, to go to the courts with a defamation suit means that he has had enough of the murk being thrown at him in an ongoing investigation. Hopefully, this will teach Goswami that he can’t keep peddling lies in the name of journalism”, he added.
Notably, Tharoor has also appealed to the High Court to restrain the TV channel from broadcasting any show relating to the death of his wife till the investigation is completed by the Delhi police.
