The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended its earlier order exempting Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from personal appearance before a trial court in connection with a criminal defamation case lodged against him by Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Vivek Tankha, news agency PTI reported.

Tankha, who also a senior advocate, has alleged that the Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president VD Sharma and former minister Bhupendra Singh carried out a "coordinated, malicious, false and defamatory" campaign against him for political mileage, accusing him of opposing Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation in the 2021 Panchayat Election in Madhya Pradesh.