Two Central Bureau of Investigation officers have been ordered by a civil court in Bengaluru on Thursday to pay Rs 2.5 lakh to an official of Doordarshan in relation to a defamation case, reported the Times of India.
In addition, the two officers have to pay interest at 6% per annum, from the date the suit was filed till the date of realisation, the report adds.
The current Additional Director General of Doordarshan, Mahesh Joshi, had filed a defamation case against the two officers in March 2003, alleging that the CBI had falsely implicated him in a case, and for widely publicising the search operation conducted on his home.
In 1999, the CBI had filed an FIR, which alleged that Joshi and others had sanctioned for broadcast a programme titled “Lux Top 10” below the fixed telecast rates.
The Karnataka HC had quashed the case against Joshi as the programme was sanctioned when Doordarshan was not under the deputation of Joshi.
When the show was sanctioned, Joshi was serving as a personal secretary of the then Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman, DB Kalmankar. He had stated that he played no role in granting the show an approval for telecast.
The CBI went on to file an appeal with the Supreme Court, which also ruled in Joshi’s favour.
Thirteen years after Joshi filed the defamation suit, Special Judge Shankaramurthy C Sangannavar observed that the officers had fraudulently and maliciously prosecuted Joshi without any reasonable or probable cause.