The Supreme Court on Thursday closed defamation proceedings against Union minister L Murugan over his 2020 comments suggesting that the Murasoli Trust affiliated with Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) operated from premises built on unauthorised land.
A bench of justices Bhushan R Gavai and KV Viswanathan closed the matter after Murugan maintained he had no intention to cause any “harm or injury” to the trust or its members.
He said the comments were made in his capacity as leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in Opposition in Tamil Nadu.
The trust, which runs a newspaper and a news channel and has Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin among its managing trustees, accepted Murugan’s clarification.
The bench accordingly acknowledged the trust’s graciousness and quashed the criminal proceedings.
Murugan approached the Supreme Court after the Madras high court rejected his plea to quash the case in September 2023.