The suit brought by Ramasamy originally named senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran as the sole defendant, and was brought in respect of a media statement titled “Unite, not divide! Senior Hindu leaders told”, which he said was widely shared online in late December 2023.

Ramasamy applied to have Prashant added to the suit after three journalists asked Ramasamy to comment on the statement.

Ramasamy alleges that the journalists had obtained the statement from Prashant.

Ramasamy previously applied to the court for an order that Prashant hand over screenshots of his WhatsApp messages with the journalists, but his application was rejected in February.

He then filed the present application seeking to name Prashant as a co-defendant in the suit.

Prashant’s lawyers argued that their client had no direct role in the dispute and should not be a party to it, but the court disagreed today.

Judge Zulhazmi Abdullah said the case against Prashant was based on the same subject matter as the original suit and should be heard together.

“Although Dr Prashant argued that he has no connection with the defendant (Lingeshwaran), the cause of action against him arises from the same cause of action which is the subject matter of the present suit. Thus, it is wise to allow the application at this stage,” Zulhazmi said.

The judge said that one of the elements of the tort of defamation was the publication of allegedly defamatory material. Accordingly, he said there was a nexus between Ramasamy’s claims against both Lingeshwaran and Prashant.

The court allowed the writ and statement of claim to be amended to add Prashant as a co-defendant.

Kok Yuen Lin represented Lingeshwaran while Sumarni Saad @ Othman represented Prashant.

Ramasamy is suing Lingeshwaran for accusing him of splitting the Hindu community and failing to uplift Indians during his time as Penang deputy chief minister and chairman of the Penang Hindu Endowments Board.

Ramasamy claims the statement was false and politically motivated. He is seeking damages, a public apology, and an injunction.

In his defence, Lingeshwaran admitted issuing the statement but said it was never published by the media. Lingeshwaran had blamed Ramasamy for causing division by introducing a second Thaipusam chariot in 2017, which led to friction between followers of the Silver and Golden Chariots.

He said the statement was made in response to Ramasamy’s public criticism over the board’s “united Thaipusam” plan.