Sanjay Raut appears before court in defamation case filed by Medha Somaiya; gets warrant cancelled

A magistrate’s court here on Friday cancelled a non-bailable warrant issued against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut after he appeared before it in a defamation case filed by Medha Somaiya, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya’s wife.

Earlier in the day, when the matter came up, Raut’s lawyer sought exemption from personal appearance for the Rajya Sabha member.

But the Sewri metropolitan magistrate rejected the plea and issued a non-bailable warrant against Raut for not attending the proceedings despite an earlier order. The court on Friday began recording the statement of the complainant in the case. Raut appeared before the court in the post-lunch session. The court then cancelled the warrant. The next hearing would be on January 24.

Somaiya has moved the court claiming that Raut made baseless and defamatory allegations that she and her husband were involved in a Rs 100 crore scam related to the construction and maintenance of public toilets in Mira Bhayander area near Mumbai.

She has sought the registration of a case against Raut, who belongs to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, under Indian Penal Code section 499 (criminal defamation).