Ex-CAG Vinod Rai apologises to Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam in defamation case
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 28
Former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai has tendered an unconditional apology to Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam for inadvertently mentioning the ex-MP’s name among those who pressured him to keep references to then prime minister Manmohan Singh out of the CAG report on 2G Spectrum allocation.
“I made certain statements against Sanjay Nirupam particularly in 2014 subsequent to the launch of my book “Not just an Accountant: The Dairy of the Nation’s Conscience Keeper”. I have realised that I had inadvertently and wrongly mentioned the name of Sanjay Nirupam as one of the MPs who pressurised me to keep the then prime minister Manmohan Singh’s name out of the CAG report on 2-G Spectrum allocation during the meetings of the Public Accounts Committee and on the sidelines of the Joint Parliamentary Committee,” Rai said in an affidavit before the Metropolitan Magistrate’s court in Patiala House where Nirupam had filed a defamation case against the former CAG.
The case stands disposed of after Nirupam accepted Rai’s unconditional apology.
The former CAG in the affidavit said statements he made against Nirupam were “factually incorrect”. Rai also apologised for the agony his remarks caused to Nirupam and his well wishers.
Nirupam had pressed defamation charges against Rai after the ex-CAG made references in respect of the Congress leader in his book and in media interviews that followed the launch of the book.
“Vinod Rai stands discharged in the case. His apology was accepted by Sanjay Nirupam and the matter was disposed of after recording Nirupam’s statement,” said RK Handoo, Nirupam’s lawyer.
Nirupam termed the development as a “big step” and added, “I have accepted the unconditional apology of Vinod Rai but I would like to state that the 2-G Spectrum and the coal allocation reports drafted by ex-CAG were fake. Vinod Rai should apologise to the entire country for the sin of authoring fake reports as CAG.”
The 2-G Spectrum and coal allocation scams are widely believed to have caused the Congress debacle in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections that saw then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi lead the BJP to a historic win in the general elections.
