Nurul Khan hits Google with legal bid to unmask Labor plotters

Hours after an anonymous ‘dirt sheet’ email landed, Labor axed Nurul Khan. Now he wants to know who hit send.

Dumped Labor candidate Nurul Khan, left, with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews

A Labor candidate axed by party chiefs over an emailed ‘‘dirt sheet’’ has launched legal action against Google to unmask the anonymous sender.

In what shapes as a potential test case over access to private information used to register email accounts, Nurul Khan, who was dumped as an Upper House candidate by the Victorian ALP just weeks before the 2022 state election, is seeking a Federal Court order to force the tech giant to hand over material that could lead to identifying the email sender.

Mr Khan, an experienced lawyer from Werribee, was summarily disendorsed by the Victorian ALP within hours of the email being sent to state and federal Labor MPs and media outlets.

The ‘‘dirt sheet’’ contained a number of serious allegations against the would-be Labor MP, who was the first person of Bangladeshi heritage to be preselected by the ALP.

The email arrived in the inboxes of the multiple Labor MPs at 1.08am on November 9 under the address of [e-mail]. Later that day, Mr Khan was cut from the party’s western metropolitan ticket.

Mr Khan vowed to prosecute his legal action in the Federal Court until information he hopes will unmask the anonymous plotter behind the political hit is handed over by Google.

‘‘I was victimised and it impacted my personal and professional life,’’ he told The Australian.

‘‘I have to know who did this to me, and I will go as long as is required to get the answers.’’

Mr Khan suspects the plot to oust him involved local ALP members and some serving Labor MPs, and he plans to launch defamation action against all involved if he can identify them.

Mr Khan’s 57-page Federal Court action is seeking a range of information — personal information including mobile phone numbers — from Google used to register the Gmail account of [e-mail].

Nurul Khan, left, campaigning With Labor's Point Cook MP Mat Hilakari

‘‘All documents in its possession, whether electronically stored or otherwise, which reveal the identity of the person who registered the email address,’’ the document states.

Mr Khan is also seeking ‘‘all documents ... which reveal the IP address and/or internet service provider information in respect of each occasion when the Gmail address was used.’’

‘‘As a result of the publication of the anonymous email, the ALP disendorsed Nurul Khan without seeking any response from him.’’

Mr Khan has said he launched legal action after Google failed to respond in any detail to earlier legal requests to provide the information.

The prospect of a court case could prove to be damaging for the Victorian ALP, if Labor

MPs and party members are found to have been involved in the drafting and sending of the ‘‘dirt sheet’’.

Google has been approached for comment.

Victorian ALP state secretary Chris Ford declined to comment, other than saying the party stands ‘‘by his removal’’.

After Mr Khan was disendorsed last November, an ALP spokesperson said: ‘‘We take the integrity and behaviour of all candidates extremely seriously.

After the email was received an examination of his application materials was conducted and the decision was made that Mr Khan was not a suitable candidate, the spokesperson added.