SS Ray to appear for Dalmiya

The former Chief Minister of West Bengal Siddhartha Shankar Ray, will be representing the ICC President, Jagmohan Dalmiya in the three cases that he has filed against The Sunday Telegraph of London and magazines Outlook and India Today. The cases were filed in the courtroom of Judge Ranjit Kumar Mitra in the Calcutta High Court yesterday.

During the preliminary hearing in the room of Judge Mitra on Thursday, Ray stated that the Judge should restrain The Daily Telegraph from printing unsubstantiated stories. However, the Judge made it very clear that he would not pass any order till the matter is heard further. Another advocate, Ushanath Bannerjee informed on behalf of Dalmiya that British newspaper Sunday Telegraph, India Today and Outlook have been sued for Rupees 50 crore apiece. The next hearing of the case is on June 12.

In his application, Ray told the court that the Sunday Telegraph in its April 30 issue had published two news items `President of ICC under corruption spotlight' and `Great ICC whitewash' to lower Dalmiya's esteem in the eyes of cricket fans all over the world.

The suit against 'India Today' is related to articles published in the publication on May 8 and 15 while the one against Outlook is in connection with articles in the edition dated May 1. In both cases, Dalmiya claimed that the charges made against him in the magazines were "false and malicious" and "have defamed him in character, reputation and credibility."