Won’t Accuse Pinaki Misra Of Conspiring Against PM Modi, Jai Dehadrai Assures Delhi HC

New Delhi: Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai on Wednesday assured the Delhi High Court that he would not make any statements, accusing BJD MP from Odisha’s Puri constituency Pinaki Misra of conspiring to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Dehadrai gave the undertaking in this regard after Justice Jasmeet Singh said he should not make such statements in public since the CBI is already looking into his complaint.

“Mr [Raghav] Awasthi for and on behalf of D1 [Dehadrai] assures the Court that no allegation of plaintiff [Misra] being involved in criminal conspiracy against the PM will be made in view of the complaint pending before the CBI,” the Bar and Bench reported quoting the court.

Stating that conspiracy to target the PM is an offence under IPC and a reason, the court further remarked that such allegations cannot be made irresponsibly and has to be based on cogent and substantial reasons.

Dehadrai’s counsel Raghav Awasthi submitted that he mentioned about Misra when questions were put to him by the media about the latter’s role. “Then you wait. Please understand it has serious repercussion on the general public that there is a conspiracy against the highest office of the country,” the court further stated.

Justice Singh, however, clarified that he is not passing any gag order against the media.

Earlier this month, the BJD MP had moved the High Court with a defamation suit against Dehadrai for making corruption allegations against him and calling him names like ‘Odia Babu’, ‘Dalal of Puri’, and ‘Canning Lane’. He had also accused him of being involved in criminal conspiracies through a pseudonymous account on X.

This followed Dehadrai’s allegations of bribery and corruption against Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra with whom he was earlier in a relationship. In his complaint to the CBI, he had also alleged that an amount of Rs 2 crore was kept with Misra to make high-value purchases on behalf of Moitra.