The descent of Air India is complete. Or so, it seems. Publishing giant Bloomsbury in a decision, unprecedented for its abject surrender, has withdrawn former AI top honcho Jitender Bhargava’s book The Descent of Air India, agreed to destroy copies of the book left in its stocks and tendered an apology to former civil aviation minister Praful Patel, who has been pilloried in the book as the man who caused the downfall of the airline.
Descent of Air India chronicles the decline of Air India and Praful Patel’s contribution to the descent. Satish Maneshinde, senior advocate for the minister, told dna on Wednesday that the withdrawal of Bhargava’s book by Bloomsbury was the outcome of an out-of-court settlement between Patel and the publishing firm.
Last November, Maneshinde filed a criminal defamation case in a Mumbai metropolitan magistrate’s court against Bhargava and Bloomsbury on behalf of Patel. He denied reports that pressure was brought upon the publisher to pull out the book. “The company’s decision is purely an outcome of a legal settlement. There is nothing more to it,” he told dna.
NCP leader Patel, who is presently Union minister of heavy industries, also denied that he had lobbied to get the book withdrawn. “The book contains totally baseless allegations against me. When my attention was drawn to it, I immediately filed a defamation case against all the persons concerned. I exercised my legal right to defend my reputation. Why should I use any other means?” Patel told dna.
Read news in full 16/01/14 S. Balakrshnan/Daily News & Analysis
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