Jabalpur | A special court here has ordered registration of a criminal defamation case against Madhya Pradesh BJP president VD Sharma, former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and ex-minister Bhupendra Singh on a petition by Congress’ Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha.

In her order on Saturday, Judicial Magistrate First Class Vishveshwari Mishra, dealing with cases pertaining to MPs and MLAs, directed for the registration of a defamation suit after prima facie finding sufficient evidence for trial, petitioner’s counsel HS Chhabra told PTI.

On April 29 last year, Tankha recorded his preliminary statement in the court in the criminal defamation case.

Tankha, also a senior Supreme Court lawyer, alleged that the BJP leaders tarnished his image by claiming incorrectly that he was involved in a Supreme Court case related to the Other Backward Class (OBC) quota in the panchayat elections in 2021.

In his statement, the former MP advocate general averred that neither had he participated in any court proceedings pertaining to the OBC reservation nor had he filed any petition on the issue.

Tankha has also filed a civil defamation suit of Rs 10 crore against Sharma, Chouhan and Singh.