Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the proceedings in a defamation case against tehelka.com filed by Samata Party and union minister V Srinivasa Prasad in a city court in Bangalore after the news portal moved the apex court praying for transfer of the case to Delhi.
A three-judge bench of justice B N Kirpal, justice Santosh Hegde and justice P Reddy issued a notice to Prasad giving him two weeks time to respond on the move for transfer of the case to Delhi and pending the response stayed the proceedings in the case, Siddarth Dave, the counsel for Tehelka said.

“Alleging that the filing of the defamation case in Bangalore was a tactic to harass the news portal, the tehelka petition said the case should be transferred to Delhi as both the respondent and petitioner were based in the Capital,” Dave said.
Prasad had filed a criminal complaint against tehelka portal, its executive Tarun J Tejpal and three others in a city court in Bangalore on Sep 10 on charges of defamation for making allegations of corruption in its expose on defence deals.

Bureau Report