New Delhi, December 21
A Delhi court today granted bail to AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh in a defamation case filed against him by BJP president Nitin Gadkari.

In his petition, Gadkari has alleged that the Congress leader had levelled a “totally false and defamatory” allegation that he had received Rs 490 crore from a company which had benefited from the coal scam involving allocation of coal blocks to ineligible companies.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sudesh Kumar granted bail to Singh on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety for the same amount.

According to Gadkari, Singh has levelled the allegations to lower his dignity and malign and tarnish his image. In a statement to the court, the BJP chief had denied that he had any business ties with BJP MP Ajay Sancheti as alleged by Singh.

Emerging from the court, Singh told reporters that he would stick to his charge against Gadkari. He said he wanted to expose what the BJP was actually doing despite its public posture that it was fighting corruption. The case would come up for next hearing on January 31.

Gadkari has countered Singh’s charge by stating that it was nothing but a ploy to divert people’s attention from the coal scam of the UPA government.

The trial court has already recorded the statement of BJP national secretary Bhupinder Yadav, a Rajya Sabha MP, and the representative of a newspaper which had carried Singh’s allegations. Yadav told the court on September 3 that Singh’s allegations against Gadkari were totally false.