In what is possibly a first, a Kannada news channel is being sued for damages to the tune of Rs 100 crore in defamation case.
Congress MLA Priya Krishna has filed a civil defamation suit demanding damages worth Rs 100 crores against a Kannada news channel for a report it telecast in December last. Incidentally, the MLA has also set a record by depositing a court fee of Rs 52 lakh in a Bengaluru court, in a possible indication that he is serious about seeing the case through.
Senior journalists who worked in the Kannada media for several decades say that it even a case of Rs 1 crore is unheard of against the mainstream media, adding that such an amount was"out of our (Kannada media) league".
Govindrajnagar MLA Priya Krishna, whose family runs a real estate business has approached a Bengaluru court with a civil defamation suit against Kannada news channel BTV which was launched just last year.