Bengaluru: A Bengaluru Court has asked former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda to pay Rs. 2 crore to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Limited (NICE) in defamation case against him for his statements in a television interview in 2011.

The company has contended that Deve Gowda, during the interview to a Kannada channel, levelled unnecessary and slanderous allegations against the company and its Promoter and MD Ashok Kheny.

The company is building the Bangalore – Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project, a mega integrated infrastructure project and one of the largest Build – Own – Operate Transfer (BOOT) projects in India.

Former PM Deve Gowda accused the company of looting public money and also said that the BOOT project is actually a loot project, said company. The JD (s) leader also referred to NICE and Kheny as land mafia, the company told the court.

NICE sought ₹ 10 crore in damages and a permanent injunction against him from making defamatory comments against the company. The Court asked former PM to pay damages and also restrained him from making any such statement against the company in the future.

The  Court in its order said that the defendant is directed to pay damages of Rs.2 crore to the plaintiff company for the loss of reputation of the plaintiff company on account of the defamatory comments made by the defendant in the interview telecasted in the Suvarna 24/7 Kannada news channel dated 28.6.2011.

The defendant is permanently restrained from making any defamatory statements against the plaintiff company in any media, news channel, and TV channel or in any other means of mass communication in future, said the Court.