Congress MLC Rizwan Arshad has sent a legal notice to News18 Kannada, a TV channel, for airing a programme linking him to the IMA scam.
News18 Kannada, a part of the Network 18 group, on September 20 had aired a programme titled - IMA Probe | Is it true Mansoor Khan gave crores of rupees to Rizwan Arshad? What does Rizwan Arshad say?
The report alleged that Rizwan Arshad received Rs 18 crore from IMA and also carried Rizwan's response saying he was not involved in the scam.
The notice issued by the counsel of Rizwan Arshad says, "In this programme, you have made per se defamatory and derogatory remarks about our client without verifying the genuineness and correctness of the facts. The contents of telecasted news report are such that you are sowing in the minds of people that my client is involved in the IMA case and has derived unlawful income from the IMA or Mansoor Khan which is false and incorrect.”
The notice accused News18 Kannada of misrepresenting facts. "Further you have misrepresented the facts, twisted them and telecasted it to sensationalise and the programme in your news channel is wholly unjustified and far from the truth and is subjecting my client for media trial and tarnishes his clean image," it reads.
It also stated that the news channel did not attempt to clarify the facts with Rizwan Arshad. Further, Rizwan alleges that the TV channel worked in collusion with Rumaan Baig, son of Roshan Baig, since the programme highlighted tweets posted by Rumaan. He asked News18 Kannada to telecast a retraction of the report and delete the programme shown on September 16 and 20 or face damages to the tune of Rs 15 crore.
Rizwan Arshad contested in the Lok Sabha elections in the Bengaluru Central constituency losing to PC Mohan of the BJP. The bye-elections for the Shivajinagar constituency in central Bengaluru are set to be held in October and Rizwan is one of the candidates Congress could turn to, after the departure of Roshan Baig.