TMC MP Saket Gokhale issues public apology to former diplomat Lakshmi Puri 

TMC MP Saket Gokhale apologizes to diplomat Lakshmi Puri for defamatory tweets, complying with Delhi High Court's order.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member of Parliament Saket Gokhale on Tuesday (June 10, 2025) issued an unconditional public apology to former diplomat Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri over a series of defamatory tweets he had posted in 2021 regarding her purchase of property abroad.

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“I unconditionally apologise for having put-out a series of tweets against Amb. Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri on 13th and 23rd June 2021, which tweets contained wrong and unverified allegations in relation to the purchase of property by Amb. Puri abroad, which I sincerely regret,” read the statement, which Mr. Gokhale published in a national newspaper and shared on his official X account.

The apology comes in compliance with the Delhi High Court’s order, which had directed Mr Gokhale to publicly apologise and pay ₹50 lakh in damages to Ms. Puri for the defamatory statements. The court had earlier restrained him from making further comments against the former Indian diplomat, who is also the wife of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

The apology was finally published days after the Court warned Mr Gokhale of civil detention for willful non-compliance of its earlier orders. The court had on May 28 observed that Mr Gokhale had failed to publish an apology within the timelines set out in its July 1, 2024 judgment—and even ignored the extended deadline granted in contempt proceedings on May 9, 2025.

“This Court finds that the nonchalant stand of the judgment debtor (Mr Gokhale) in not complying with the direction of publishing an apology... is deliberate, disrespectful and undermines the legal process,” the court had then remarked.

Ms. Puri had filed the defamation suit before the court in response to tweets made by Mr Gokhale in June 2021 making reckless and false allegations about her financial affairs in the context of an apartment that she owned in Geneva.