The Madras High Court on Thursday, restrained DMK leader and Youth Welfare and Sports Development Minister, Udhayanidhi Stalin, from making defamatory allegations about former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami being involved in corruption cases, and linking his name with the 2017 Kodanad heist-cum-murder case.
Justice R.N. Manjula granted the interim injunction for a period of two weeks pursuant to a civil suit for damages of ₹1.1 crore filed by Mr. Palaniswami, general secretary of the AIADMK and also the Leader of the Opposition. She also ordered a notice, returnable in a fortnight, to the Youth Welfare Minister.
Senior Counsel Vijay Narayan, representing the plaintiff, told the judge that Mr. Udhayanidhi was the son of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and that a written statement issued by him on September 7 and circulated through his X (formerly Twitter) handle had given rise to a cause of action for the filing of the present suit. He said in the statement titled ‘Let Social Justice flourish forever,’ issued after a controversial speech on Sanatana Dharma at a public event on September 2, the Minister had insinuated that Mr. Palaniswami was involved in the Kodanad crime and that he was also facing a corruption case.
