Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday sent a defamation notice to two People's Democratic Party (PDP) leaders for accusing him of receiving kickbacks in allotting the 690-MW Rattle Hydro Power Project to GVK Development Projects.
The chief minister sent a legal notice, drafted by his lawyer and former additional solicitor general Abhishek Manu Singhvi, to PDP legislator Nizamuddin Bhat and party spokesman Nayeem Akhtar Andrabi for "levelling baseless, fabricated, concocted, frivolous, false and defamatory allegations in a bid to defame him and damage his reputation", a government spokesman said.
He said they have been asked to publicly apologise and withdraw the allegations against the chief minister within seven days.
A RS 10-crore defamation suit and a complaint under the Jammu and Kashmir Code of Criminal Procedure, 1933, will be filed against them if they fail to apologise.
The PDP legislator and its spokesman told the media on Wednesday afternoon that Abdullah had received Rs 500 crore as kickbacks. Bhat alleged that the chief minister withdrew Rs 26 crore, which was deposited in a "secret fund".
The GVK was selected from a list of eight bidders for the Rs 5,500-crore project under a build- own-operate and transfer system. It is the nation's first power project allotted under tariff-based bidding.
The Jammu and Kashmir government is supposed to get 15 per cent of power as royalty and will have the first right to purchase 55 per cent at the rate Rs 1.44 per unit till it is transferred to the state government after 35 years.
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