A COURT in Lucknow on Saturday sentenced former UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu to one-year imprisonment in a 2019 defamation case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him.
“I had moved a bail application, which the court allowed. The court directed to deposit two sureties of Rs 20,000,” said Ajay Kumar, adding that he would appeal against the judgment.
A defamation case was registered against Ajay Kumar under IPC section 500 (defamation) at the Gautampali police station in Lucknow for making “indecent and derogatory remarks” against the then UP power minister Shrikant Sharma.
“After news of an alleged UPPCL Employees’ Provident Fund ‘scam’ emerged in 2019, I made a statement to mediapersons… in which I asked seven questions to Shrikant Sharma,” said Lallu, adding that Sharma later filed a defamation case against him.
Ajay Kumar was state Congress president at the time. He contested the 2022 Assembly election from Tamkuhi Raj seat on a Congress ticket and lost.
Shrikant Sharma won the 2022 Assembly election from Mathura on a BJP ticket.
