Defamation case: Appavu appears before spl court

Chennai: Tamil Nadu speaker M Appavu on Friday appeared before a city special court in connection with a criminal defamation complaint made by AIADMK lawyer Babu Murugavel.Denying the allegations that he refused to receive summons issued by the court, Appavu told the court that he had never refused to receive any summons from the court. He said he had not received any summons so far.Recording the submissions, G Jayavel, special judge for cases against MPs and MLAs, adjourned the hearing to Sept 26.The complaint was against a reported statement made by Appavu that 40 AIADMK MLAs wished to join DMK after the demise of J Jayalalithaa, but the proposal was turned down by M K Stalin.According to the petitioner, Appavu made the statement at a book fair in Nov last year. The petitioner said Appavu had also said a senior member of the AIADMK had approached him seeking assistance in shifting the loyalties of the MLAs and that Stalin, who was then leader of the opposition, refused to take power without the mandate of the voters.The petitioner contended that Appavu's claim was fictitious and aimed at defaming AIADMK.