Court grants bail to Nawab Malik in BJP worker’s defamation suit

Nawab Malik on Monday appeared before the metropolitan magistrate court pursuant to summons issued to him for the defamation suit hearing

Mumbai An additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) at Mazgaon on Monday granted bail to Minority Development minister Nawab Malik in connection with the defamation complaint filed against him by BJP worker Mohit Bharatiya.

The BJP worker alleged that Nawab Malik, in a television interview after the cruise ship drug bust case said wrong things about his brother-in-law (HT File)

The NCP leader on Monday appeared before the metropolitan magistrate court pursuant to summons issued to him. When ACMM Parvez Mokashi asked Malik about the allegations levelled against him, he claimed, “I haven’t defamed anybody. I have evidence and will produce the same before the court.”

Bharatiya alleged that Malik, in a television interview after the cruise ship drug bust case, had said that Bharatiya’s brother-in-law, Rishabh Sachdeva, was also on board the cruise when it was searched by a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) team led by the agency’s zonal director, Sameer Wankhede on October 2. However, Malik added that due to Bhartiya’s influence, Sachadeva was let go.

Malik also allegedly said that Bharatiya met Wankhede on October 7 at an undisclosed location. He said that he would circulate the video clip of the meeting, but it never saw the light of the day.

Bharatiya said that Malik misused his dominant position of being a cabinet minister to target the NCB, as the agency had arrested and is prosecuting his son-in-law in a drugs case.

Faiz R Merchant, who had argued for Mohit Bhartiya, submitted that Malik maligned the image of his client and defamed him.

On the other hand, Malik’s counsel Ramesh Dube Patil argued that several complaints have been filed against Bharatiya, as he had defrauded people to the tune of ₹1,100 crore and after the fraud, changed his name from Mohit Kamboj to Mohit Bharatiya.