Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams chairman and promoter of TV5 television news channel B R Naidu on Wednesday served legal notice on Sakshi media house – including Sakshi channel and daily newspaper – for carrying alleged defamatory news about him and the TTD recently.
In a statement, Naidu said Sakshi media house had carried defamatory content against him on August 10 and 14 respectively, accusing him of being responsible for several unfortunate incidents that happened in Tirumala and Tirupati, including the death of six persons in stampede during the Vaikuntha Dwara darshan tickets distribution in January.
The TTD chairman said it was a sinister attempt made by Sakshi as a part of a larger conspiracy to discredit his sacred services in Tirumala-Tirupati.
“The sole reason behind running such a smear campaign by publishing and broadcasting baseless content against me is possibly me heading a rival vernacular media organisation TV5,” he said.
He said the defamatory and frivolous content that the news network Sakshi TV and Sakshi News Paper published against him not only undermined his reputation among Telugus but also hurt the sentiments of crores of devotees of Lord Sri Venkateshwara Swamy residing across the world.
“Deeply aggrieved by the biased, partial and malicious reportage on the aforementioned dates, I have sent a legal notice to the Sakshi Management through my advocate on August 18 seeking their unconditional apology and compensation to the tune of Rs 10 crore to be paid to the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams Board,” he said.
Naidu said if the Sakshi Management does not respond within the stipulated time as mentioned in the legal notice, he would initiate all legal recourse mechanisms available to him under the law.
He said he would also complain to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to halt the broadcasting of Sakhi TV by invoking relevant provisions of the Act and corresponding rules in operation.
