Law Min Withdraws Comment Calling Shashi Tharoor a Murder Accused

Minister Ravi Shankar said he has withdrawn allegations made against MP Shashi Tharoor during the Lok Sabha polls.

Shashi Tharoor raised objections after Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad allegedly called him an “accused in a murder case.”

(Photo: Image altered by The Quint)

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that he has withdrawn his allegation made against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor during the Lok Sabha polls, that the Congress leader is an "accused in a murder case."

"Pleased to announce the amicable settlement of my recent differences with Shri @ShashiTharoor Ji," Prasad tweeted.

Reacting to the move, Tharoor said he is instructing his lawyers to withdraw the case he had filed against Prasad.

The letter he shared on Twitter was sent on 20 March to Tharoor. He had also shared the letter Tharoor had written to him, saying that he is happy to treat the matter as closed.

“'It was very gracious of you to withdraw your words in respect of myself, which had offended me greatly. I welcome your sentiments and in view of our long association, I am happy to treat the matter as closed,” read the letter.

“More than a year ago during the heat of campaign I had made a comment describing you as an accused in a murder case. On receiving subsequent information about the conclusion of the investigation in the concerned case I learnt that the said allegation against you is not factually correct accordingly, withdraw it unconditionally," Prasad said in his letter.

Prasad had made these statements during a press conference on 28 October 2018. Tharoor had filed a defamation case against the law minister in December 2018. The Delhi police had mentioned Tharoor in the charge sheet in the case relating to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. However, the Congress MP argued that that there was no charge of murder against him in any court or investigation.

Prasad had criticised Tharoor for making a comment about PM Narendra Modi being a 'scorpion on a Shiva linga'.

In the letter, he pointed out he made such comments based on his "observations which is not of your own making but someone else's comments, presenting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a very uncharitable light."

"Though this was surely not your comment its reiteration by you gave it prominence and led to circulation in the entire country through media. I think if there is an introspection you too may be able to persuade yourself that the said comment being stated by you was avoidable," the minister wrote.

Tharoor clarified in a comment on Twitter that, “It was never my comment. I quoted an RSS functionary, now a BJP leader, in a book with 750 other cited & footnoted quotes. I stand by the right of scholars to quote published sources; the printed source was duly attributed in the book & in my speech about the book.”