The shahi imam of Jama Masjid in Delhi, Syed Ahmed Bukhari has served a defamation notice to Republic TV’s promoters including its founder and former journalist, Arnab Goswami for what he said was malicious reporting on the mosque.

In his legal notice, Bukhari demanded an on-air apology from the channel and removal of any video content currently existing on the web platforms owned by Republic TV within 15 days.

In its programme on 30 August, Republic TV had claimed that electricity supply to the historic mosque was cut by the Delhi Electricity Department due to non-payments of bills. The channel had run this story repeatedly on TV while also using its official Twitter handle to tweet about it.