Court issues summons to Kangana on Javed Akhtar's complaint

A Mumbai court on Monday issuedsummons to actor Kangana Ranaut after the city police informedit that an offence of defamation, as alleged by lyricist JavedAkhtar against the actor, is made out and further probe intoit is required.

The Andheri metropolitan magistrate in December 2020directed the Juhu police here to conduct an inquiry into thecomplaint of defamation filed by Akhtar against Ranaut beforethe court in November last year.

The police on Monday submitted their report to thecourt, stating that offences alleged by the complainant(Akhtar) against Ranaut are made out for furtherinvestigation.

Magistrate R R Khan, after perusing the report,issued summons to Ranaut.

The court posted the matter for hearing on March 1.

Akhtar's advocate Jay Kumar Bharadwaj on Monday toldthe court that the police last month issued summons to Ranaut,asking her to remain present before the police for recordingher statement.

But, the actor is yet to respond to the same.

Akhtar, in his complaint, alleged that Ranaut had madedefamatory comments against him in an interview, by dragginghis name while referring to a ''coterie'' existing in Bollywood,following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June lastyear.

The lyricist in his plea claimed that the ''baselesscomments'' made by Ranaut had caused damage to his reputation.

PTI SPGK GK