The State government on Monday filed four defamation cases against the editor and publisher and the printer of Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan for allegedly publishing defamatory articles against four ministers. City Public Prosecutor M.L. Jegan filed the cases on behalf of Ministers O. Panneerselvam, P. Thangamani, B. Valarmathi and P. Mohan before the City Civil Court here.

According to Mr. Jegan, the articles published on July 29, August 18, and August 26 and November 4 last year, were defamatory per se and sought action against R. Kannan, Editor and Publisher of the weekly and its printer S. Madhavan for publishing them.