The Patiala House Court, recently, summoned Atideb Sarkar, Chief Editor of ABP News, following a defamation suit filed by Senior Advocate Pradeep Rai. Rai alleges that ABP News published a misleading article connecting him to conman Sanjay Sherpuria, prompting legal action against the news organization and its executives.

Judicial Magistrate Tarunpreet Kaur held, “Prima facie, perusal of pre-summoning evidence and the documents brought on record reveal that the content in question is defamatory and the same had been published by the respondents on their official website on the date of the alleged incident”. 

Senior Advocate Pardeep Rai alleged that he was neither an associate of Sanjay Sherpuria nor is he the director of any of his companies. However, he was still named in the said article leading to a loss of reputation among his friends and family. 

The court noted that the essential ingredients of defamation, namely false imputation were made by the accused to damage or harm the reputation, and a third person reading such content, was fulfilled. 

Accordingly, the court summoned, ‘1. Atideb Sarkar (Chief Editor & Publisher, ABP), 2. Aveek Sarkar (Vice Chairman & Editor Emeritus, ABP Group), 3. Avinash Pandey (CEO, ABP), 4. ABP News’. 

Case Title: Pardeep Rai v Atideb Sarkar (Ct Case 6483/2023)