A US court has summoned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Indian politicians and business tycoons after an Indian-American doctor filed a lawsuit in Washington against them on a host of issues including corruption and Pegasus spyware.
The summons have been issued by a US District Court for the District of Columbia against leaders including PM Modi, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and business tycoon Gautam Adani among others, all of whom have been named in the lawsuit and were served in India earlier this year.
The lawsuit has piqued the interest of many due to the high-profile personalities named in it. However, eminent Indian-American attorney from New York Ravi Batra has termed it a "dead on arrival lawsuit".
Advertisement
Who is the Indian-American doctor suing PM Modi and why?
The lawsuit against Modi, Reddy and Adani has been filed by Richmond-based gastroenterologist Dr Lokesh Vuyurru. Among others named in the lawsuit is Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the World Economic forum.
Without any documentary evidence, the Indian-American physician, who comes from Andhra Pradesh, alleged that Modi, Reddy and Adani, along with others, are engaged in corruption, including massive cash transfers to the US and use of Pegasus spyware against political opponents.
The lawsuit was filed on May 24, following which the court issued the summons on July 22. The summons were served on them in India on August 4 and to Schwab in Switzerland on August 2.
Advertisement
Dr Vuyyuru submitted the evidence of submission of the summons before the court on August 19.
"Dead on arrival lawsuit"
Indian-American lawyer Ravi Batra has called it "a dead on arrival lawsuit" and claimed that the complainant seemed to have "too much free time on his hands". He also accused Vuyyuru of "improper use of our federal courts by filing his 53-page complaint to defame and disparage an American ally, India". Batra also said that no lawyer had touched the complaint yet. "...despite the presumption against extra-territoriality and Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act - something we helped flush out by repeatedly winning dismissal of SFJ v INC and SFJ v Sonia Gandhi, he (Vuyyuru) slashes and burns indiscriminately as if there was no Rule 11 to teach him respect for Article III courts," Batra was quoted by PTI.
Not the first lawsuit against Modi in US
This, however, is not the first time that a lawsuit has been filed against Modi in a court of law in the US, a country with which the leader formerly shared a strained relationship. In September 2019, a USD 100-million lawsuit was filed against the PM and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, days before the former's 'Howdy, Modi' event in Texas with US President Donald Trump. The litigants included a separatist Kashmir-Khalistan outfit among others and the lawsuit challenged the Indian Parliament’s decision on Jammu and Kashmir that abrogated the special privileges of the state and carved out two union territories. The litigants sought compensation of USD 100 million from Modi, Shah and Lt. Gen. Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon.
Advertisement
The lawsuit, however, was dropped in 2020 after the litigants reportedly failed to appear at the scheduled hearings for the suit.
In 2014, another lawsuit had been filed against Modi, ahead of his maiden visit to the US after becoming Prime Minister, alleging the former Gujarat Chief Minister failed to stop anti-Muslin rioting in the state in 2002 when he was in office. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2014 after US District Judge Analisa Torres upheld the US Department of State’s ruling that Modi is entitled to immunity from civil lawsuits filed in US courts since he is a sitting head of government.
(With inputs from PTI)
