The Reliance Group of Companies have served a legal notice to Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Ripun Bora for levelling charges against the group of “illegally benefitting” from the Rafale deal.
In a three-page notice the company has asked Bora to “avoid, cease and desist from making” what the companies termed as “any unverified, speculative, incorrect, false, frivolous, misleading, derogatory and defamatory statements” against them on the issue of the Rafale deal.
The deal will see France’s Dassault supplying 36 Rafale fighter jets to India and it has entered into a joint venture with a Reliance group company to meet its offset requirement of the contract under which, according to the Congress, the NDA government had paid Rs 1,670 crore a jet as against the UPA-finalised price of Rs 570 crore for a single Rafale jet, The Telegraph reported.
Like elsewhere in the country, the Congress has been staging protests and holding news conference across Assam since August. Ripun Bora had led the protest in several districts, seeking a joint parliamentary committee to probe the deal.
The notice, served on behalf of three group companies, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Defence and Reliance Aerostructure Ltd, says, “As a cautionary measure, our clients strongly urge you to avoid, cease and desist from making any unverified, speculative, incorrect, false, frivolous, misleading derogatory and defamatory statements against them on such a sensitive subject relating to national security.”
Bora said they will continue to raise the issue because they have enough evidence to substantiate their case in a court of law.
“I received the notice today (Friday). They cannot scare us by such notices. Reliance has illegally benefited from the deal. We will continue to raise the issue and will contest the case in court,” the newspaper quoted Bora as saying.
“We will contest it in the court. Though we have been asked to desist, we will not desist,” he added.