A bench of justices Bhushan R Gavai and KV Viswanathan shut the doors on the matter after Murugan continued to argue that he had no intention of any “harm or injury” to the trust DMK-run.
Supreme Court on Thursday closed a defamation suit against Union minister L Murugan for his remarks in 2020 over an alleged instance of Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK party-owned Murasoli Trust running from illegally acquired land constructed premises.
A bench of justices Bhushan R Gavai and KV Viswanathan closed the matter after Murugan maintained he had no intention to cause any “harm or injury” to the trust or its members. He said the comments were made in his capacity as leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in Opposition in Tamil Nadu.
The trust, which runs a newspaper and a news channel and has Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin among its managing trustees, accepted Murugan’s clarification. The bench accordingly accepted the trust’s graciousness and quashed the criminal proceedings.
Murugan moved to the Supreme Court after the Madras High Court rejected his plea to quash the case in September 2023. A prominent Dalit leader and former BJP state president, he made the alleged defamatory statement at a press conference in 2020.
