The legal notice came the next day.
“My client reserves his right to present evidence which clearly demonstrates your conspiracy to defame him with ulterior motive of distortion,” it said, referring to Pandey. “You must be aware of your illegal demands of money from my client and now, it appears that you are trying to hold Mr Pandey accountable for not bidding to your illegal demands in the past, specifically Mr Vivekanand.”
The notice added that the news website had not cross-checked its claims with Pandey and did not produce any specific evidence to corroborate the allegations made in the report. It concluded with three demands: a compensation of Rs 3 crore due to the purported “loss of opportunity” to Pandey as a lawyer, a written “unconditional apology”, and the removal of the report from the website.
Kaushalendra Priyadarshi, editor and director at News4Nation, told Newslaundry that he had not received the legal notice but learned of it from WhatsApp. “It does not make sense. We only criticised him,” Priyadarshi said. “It was merely a scrutiny. There’s nothing more to it than that.”
Asked whether the website had reached out to Pandey for his comments for the report, the editor reiterated that the report was a “review” based on inputs from political insiders, and did not require Pandey’s comments.
Speaking to Newslaundry, Pandey said that he had a WhatsApp conversation with Vivekanand and phone conversations with other News4Nation employees as evidence of extortion. “They blackmailed me and demanded a bribe, saying that if I don’t pay, they would run negative news against me,” he alleged.
Priyadarshi denied this and asserted that no one at News4Nation had attempted to extort the political aide. “There’s no such thing,” he said tersely. “You should ask him for evidence.”
Pandey, however, refused to share the concerned conversations with this reporter, saying he will only present it before the court when he files a case against the news website.
“During elections, there are websites that try to make money through such means. Their motto is jab tak election, tab tak collection. It is also their business model,” said Pandey, who has worked with Paswan and the LJP for over seven years. “Negative news is fine, but why make it an agenda? People who do this should have their licenses cancelled. They should be booked under the Indian Penal Code. Not just me, but the LJP will also sue him.”
However polished his justifications, Pandey’s legal action has the ingredients of a political figure intimidating a news organisation for inconvenient reportage. But he does not see it this way. “Such journalists need to be taught a lesson: don’t go beyond your rights. What they reported was insulting and humiliating. I am a vigilant citizen and I will not spare them.”
The LJP functionary has claimed that he will move court against News4Nation next week. At the website’s office in Patna, Priyadarshi did not seem bothered. “Let him do it, why eat our brains over it?” he shrugged, and hung up.