ORR lease: IRB Infrastructure issues Rs 1000 crore defamation notice to Raghunandan Rao

The company has asked Raghunandan Rao to pay Rs 1000 crore as damages for causing loss of reputation and goodwill due to his false and ex-facie defamatory remarks

Hyderabad: Management of the Mumbai based IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited on Monday issued a 1000-crore defamation notice to BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao for his reported allegations that the company had indulged in corruption to bag a 30-year contract for toll collection on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and also for the charges that it was involved in the murder of an RTI activist. The company has asked Raghunandan Rao to pay Rs 1000 crore as damages for causing loss of reputation and goodwill due to his false and ex-facie defamatory remarks.

The company has also asked Raghunandan Rao to withdraw derogatory remarks made by him publicly and issue a public apology to it and its officials. The company warned that if Raghunandan Rao failed to comply, appropriate civil and criminal proceedings would be initiated.

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Recently, Raghunandan Rao had accused unnamed officials of IRB Infrastructure Developers of murdering an RTI activist for questioning the company’s actions. “The CBI probe into the killing of the RTI activist is proof that IRB will go to any extent to silence anyone who questions it,” Raghunandan Rao said.

Following which the company has issued a defamation notice to the BJP MLA. The notice further stated that Raghunandan Rao’s statements, allegations and insinuations against its client not only exhibit grossly irresponsible conduct but was a deliberate and malafide act to tarnish its client’s reputation and affect its business, solely with the ulterior motive of furthering his own political agendas.

The company management alleged that Raghunandan Rao had falsely accused it of committing a heinous crime of murder, even though the officials, who were wrongly implicated have been given a clean chit in the case of murder of the RTI Activists by the CBI which filed a closure report after a detailed investigation, it claimed.