Local Court in Mumbai Issues Notice to Kangana Ranaut in Defamation Case Filed by Veteran Lyricist Javed Akhtar

A Mumbai Magistrate court on Monday issued notice to Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut in a criminal defamation complaint filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar against Ranaut.

Mr Akhtar had alleged that the Queen fame actress had made defamatory statements against him in an interview aired on Republic TV with Arnab Goswami.

"Kangana Ranaut needlessly dragged Javed Akhtar’s name into late Sushant Singh Rajput’s death matter": Javed Akhtar's Advocate 

Javed Akhtar had approached the Magistrate court in order to seek cognizance of Kangana's statements in media and to start proceedings against her under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. Advocate Niranjan Mundargi appearing for Akhtar said that Kangana Ranaut, while her interview to Republic TV had needlessly dragged Javed Akhtar’s name into an unrelated sensitive matter, pertaining to the Sushant Singh Rajput case. It is pertinent to point out that Ranaut had called Mr Akhtar as part of the Bollywood suicide gang. 

In the same interview, she had also recounted an earlier incident claiming that Mr Akhtar had allegedly threatened her with dire consequences if she did not apologise to Hrithik Roshan and his family.

Juhu police submitted an investigation report as per the directions given by the court in an earlier hearing.

The learned counsel appearing for Mr Akhtar stated that the said interview garnered mass viewership on Youtube and caused great damage to the reputation of his client..

The matter is listed for hearing on March 1, 2021.