Admin
09 August 2024
Jharkhand leader and Independent MLA,Saryu Roy who has recently joined the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), is facing the charge of Rs 100 crore defamation.
The charge has been slapped on Saryu Roy by Singapore based company MEINHARDT in a defamation case filed at the court of Chandan Bhanu Kumar, Civil Judge( Senior Division No 1), Ranchi. Meinhardt - Saryu Roy case is old.
In 2000, Jharkhand became a separate state. Later,a petition was filed in Jharkhand High Court by some social workers of Ranchi, in which the court gave an important order in 2003. The High Court had ordered to develop sewerage drainage system in the capital Ranchi.
In the light of the said order, the state government department issued a tender for appointment of consultant on the orders of the then urban development minister Bachha Singh.
After this two consultants were selected. But in the meantime the government changed and in 2005 Raghubar Das was made urban development minister in Arjun Munda’s government.
Raghubar Das called a meeting on 31st August to finalize the Detail Project Report(DPR), in which it was decided that the already selected consultant should be removed. After this the matter went to High Court.
In the meantime, Singapore company Meinhardt was appointed as consultant. Consultancy was done by spending Rs. 21 crore, but no work was done. After this the matter came to light and Saryu Roy revealed and made it it public.
This went against the interest of Meinhardt after Saryu Roy moved the Jharkhand High Court challenging its reinstatement. But the Jharkhand High Court rejected the case filed by Saryu Roy in the matter of reinstatement of Meinhardt agency.
This happened when former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and current Governor of Odisha Raghubar Das was a minister.
Jharkhand High Court had also recently completed the hearing on the petition filed by Saryu Roy regarding the PE (Preliminary Investigation) report filed in Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in the Meinhardt scam case not being received till now and FIR not being filed in the case and reserved the decision.
On June 26, the High Court rejected Saryu Roy’s petition. However, Jharkhand High Court has given liberty to applicant Saryu Roy to present his views in appropriate forum.
Against this back drop, when the high court had rejected his plea for enquiry into the Singapore company and he has begun leading the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar led JD(U) in Jharkhand,Meinhardt filing defamation suit against Saryu Roy has acquired political significance.
The JD(U), which leads the NDA government in Bihar, is aiming for its revival in the neighbouring state of Jharkhand slated for the Assembly polls by this year-end.
Once among the senior Jharkhand BJP leaders, Roy, 73, had walked out of the saffron party just before the 2019 Assembly polls, may face defamation in public.
In 2019,Saryu Roy had contested as an Independent from the Jamshedpur East constituency, emerging as a giant killer by defeating senior BJP leader and incumbent chief minister Raghuvar Das, now Governor of Odisha.
What will be his fate in the upcoming Assembly elections before the end of 2024, remains to be watched.
Link Enclosed is the Defamation suit filed by MEINHARDT against Saryu Roy
