A criminal defamation case has been filed against Congress leader Digvijaya Singh for allegedly accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bajrang Dal of taking money from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, PTI reported on Wednesday. A court in Delhi will hear the matter on October 9.

BJP member and lawyer Rajesh Kumar filed the complaint. He said Singh had committed a “grave offence” and caused injury to the BJP, its leaders and the public at large through his alleged defamatory comments on September 1. However, the Rajya Sabha member backtracked the following day, and claimed he did not accuse the parties but only two of their members.

“Bajrang Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party are taking money from ISI,” the Congress leader had reportedly said in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind district on the sidelines of an event. “People should pay attention to this. Non-Muslims are spying for Pakistan’s ISI more than Muslims. This should be understood.”

But then he clarified that he was talking about a Bajrang Dal member and a BJP member who were arrested on charges of spying for the Pakistani spy agency. “Some channels are running [reports] that I have accused BJP of spying for ISI after taking money,” Singh said in a series of tweets. “This is completely wrong.”

In response, Bajrang Dal National Convener Sohan Solanki threatened to file an FIR against Singh. “Also, by saying that non-Muslims are more involved in espionage than Muslims he has insulted 125 crore people of India,” Solanki added, questioning the Congress leader’s credibility as a politician. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed that Singh made such “controversial statements to stay in news”.

Now, follow and debate the day’s most significant stories on Scroll Exchange.