CHENNAI: In a bid to put a lid on speculative articles about her health being published in the media, mostly online, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday slapped a criminal defamation complaint against Rediff.com which carried two such articles on July 10.

City public prosecutor M L Jegan filed the complaint on behalf of Jayalalithaa, before the principal sessions court here.

According to the complaint, the article, titled ‘Chennai media knew Jayalalithaa’s health is not fine, but kept mum,’ was written with a mala fide intention to tarnish her image, and it was published without proper verification of facts.

It was contrary to truth, said the complaint which has raised the usual grounds cited in such criminal defamation proceedings.

It cites five persons at Rediff as accused, including author Ramasubramanian, chief executive officer, chief editor and associate editor.

The matter may be taken up for hearing in a day or two, said sources in prosecutor’s office.

