Magistrate Issues Summons Against Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik On BJP Leader Mohit Bharatiya's Defamation Complaint

The summons is returnable on December 30, 2021.

Metropolitan Magistrate P I Mokashi, in an order passed on Monday, observed that the documents and video clips cited by Bharatiya showed that Malik had made defamatory statements against him "so that it can be seen by the public at large."

This is the second defamation complaint filed by Bharatiya against Malik and summons have already been issued in his first complaint in October itself. Both of Bharatiya's complaints pertain to Malik's numerous press conferences held after the Cordelia Cruise Drugs case, in which Bollywood super star Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan is one of the accused.

"It is also prima-faciely proved by the complainant that the words spoken by accused Nawab Malik were such that it has harmed the reputation of the complainant. The verification statement of the complainant runs with his complaint. Thereby ingredients of section 500 is prima-faciely proved against accused," the conclusive part of the order, passed on December 13, reads.

Bharatiya, in his private complaint, filed through Advocate Faiz Merchant alleged that Malik had grossly misused his dominant position as a Cabinet Minister in the State Government "to defame him and his family with highly speculative arguments without any evidence to substantiate his alleged malicious claims."

The complaint on which the Magistrate has now issued summons pertains to a press conference held by Malik last month, after summons in the first case was already issued. In these press conferences, Malik had accused Bharatiya of being a part of a "private army" which was working in connivance with Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede. Malik accused Bharatiya of entangling Aryan Khan into the case.

Further, the complaint alleges that after Malik stepped out of the Sewree court on November 29, 2021 (based on summons in the first case), he spoke to a private news channel and made allegations against Bharatiya for being involved in a fraud of Rs 1,100 crore. He also accused him of changing his name from Mohit Kamboj to Mohit Bharatiya after this fraud case, without placing any substantiation for any of the allegations.

The Magistrate observed that all the documents and video clips pertaining to the two different media addresses by Malik prima-facie showed that he had made defamatory statements against Bharatiya. The Magistrate has fixed December 30 as the next date for the case.