Nawab Malik Granted Bail In Second Defamation Case By Former BJP Youth Wing President

A magistrate court on Wednesday granted bail to Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik in the second defamation complaint filed against him by former Mumbai BJP youth wing president Mohit Kamboj Bharatiya. Metropolitan Magistrate PI Mokashi allowed Malik's bail plea on furnishing a surety of Rs 15,000. However, the court directed Malik not to commit a similar offence in the future otherwise, his bail would be cancelled. Earlier the court granted Malik bail in Bharatiya's first defamation complaint. 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. In his private complaint, filed through Advocate Faiz Merchant, Bharatiya 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 issued summons, in November, pertains to a press conference held by Malik in October, after summons in the first case was already issued. In these press conferences, Malik accused Bharatiya of being a part of a "private army" working in connivance with Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede. In addition, 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 about the two different media addresses by Malik prima-facie showed that he had made defamatory statements against Bharatiya. In November the court issued process against Malik under section 204 of the CrPC. The next date of hearing is on January 29, 2022.

Nawab Malik Granted Bail In Second Defamation Case By Former BJP Youth Wing President

Sharmeen Hakim

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