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Several weeks after MA Yusuff Ali, the founder of LuLu Group International, initiated legal action against Marunadan Malayali, an online Malayalam ‘news’ portal, for allegedly publishing fake news about him and Vivek Doval, the son of National Security Advisor of India Ajit Kumar Doval, Malayalam actor Prithviraj Sukumaran has also announced his intent to pursue legal recourse against the website and its owners. Prithviraj alleges that the portal levelled “defamatory” and “malicious” allegations against him.
On Thursday morning, Shajan Skariah, the chief editor and MD of Marunadan Malayali, had taken up a news report that appeared in the columns of Malayala Manorama newspaper which stated that the Income Tax (I-T) Department and Enforcement Directorate (ED) have stepped up actions following intelligence information that a large amount of black money was being invested in the Malayalam film industry from abroad. The report had also mentioned that five producers associated with the industry were under the surveillance of central agencies and that one actor-cum-producer has already paid a fine of Rs 25 crore.
Claiming that he prepared the report after speaking to investigating agencies, producers including the accused persons, and actors within the industry, Shajan Skariah stated that the actor-cum-producer who evaded further action against him by paying the fine was Prithviraj Sukumaran. “Though we are not sure if Rs 25 crore was the fine that he paid, the person in question is Prithviraj,” Skariah said and further alleged that the ED initiated the probe after getting intel that a Qatar-based mafia group was pumping black money into the Malayalam industry.
“A lot of producers are working as the benamis of this mafia group. After the union government and the central agencies started getting doubts that these people were producing propaganda films, they initiated an investigation into this. Prithviraj came under the scanner after acting in a movie titled Jana Gana Mana,” Skariah claimed without presenting any evidence substantiating his claims.
Issuing a statement via his social media accounts later in the day, Prithviraj dismissed the allegations and said, “It has come to my attention that the YouTube channel by the name Marunadan Malayali has published a false and defamatory story, alleging that I have paid a fine of Rs. 25,00,00,000/- pursuant to proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate and am making propaganda films. The allegations are devoid of any truth, malicious, and defamatory. I am initiating legal action for the false and defamatory allegations that have been made against me. I hereby request all responsible media channels to ensure that any further reporting on the allegations is done only after the facts are verified and confirmed.”
“I usually tend to ignore these because terms like ‘ethical journalism’ are fast becoming redundant in the times we live in. But there is a limit to propagating absolute lies in the name of “news”. This is a fight I intend to see through to the end. Filing civil and criminal defamation charges. PS: For those of you who are still wondering…NO, I haven’t paid any fines whatsoever,” he noted while sharing the statement.
The new action against Marunadan Malayali comes weeks after Yusuff Ali sent a notice to Shajan Skariah for defamation over false allegations. In the notice, Ali sought Rs 10 crore as damages for the defamation.
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