Won’t make defamatory remarks against Goa CM’s wife, AAP’s Sanjay Singh tells court

In the plea, Sulakshana Sawant sought an injunction restraining Singh from making public statements maligning her and sought Rs 100 crore in damages. The plaintiff also asked that the AAP leader be restrained from republishing or sharing on social media the video and transcripts of the press conference in which the allegedly defamatory statements had been made.

The matter was listed before the court of Adhoc Civil Judge Senior Division in Bicholim, North Goa, on Friday.

Singh’s counsel, advocate S Bodke, submitted before the court that “no defamatory statement and the statements which plaintiff has taken objection to in the plaint made against the plaintiff would be made by the defendant until the next date of hearing/filing reply to temporary injunction application, whichever is later…”

The defendant also sought time to file a written statement and reply to the temporary injunction application. The matter has been fixed for January 24.

In the “cash-for-jobs” scam, Goa Police filed at least 32 FIRs and made 44 arrests as of last month. Hundreds of people were allegedly lured to pay vast sums of money to the accused on the promise of jobs in various government departments. According to police, the jobs were promised with the help of “connections” of the accused.

Sanjay Singh last month alleged that CM Pramod Sawant, his wife Sulakshana Sawant and other BJP MLAs were also involved in the scam. At a press conference in Delhi in December 2024, Singh claimed “jobs are being sold for bribes in Goa”. Pramod Sawant has called the allegations baseless.