E-Paper
Court restrains Ravindra Dhangekar from passing remarks against bizman Sameer Patil
Dhangekar alleged that Sameer Patil, who works in Chandrakant Patil’s office, is in touch with criminal Nilesh Ghaywal and that Ghaywal has direct links with Chandrakant Patil through Sameer Patil
In a setback for Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) Pune city chief Ravindra Dhangekar, a sessions court has restrained him from making any further statements against businessman Sameer Patil who is known to be close to Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil.
Recently, Dhangekar launched a series of attacks on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Pune. Dhangekar alleged that Sameer Patil, who works in Chandrakant Patil’s office, is in touch with criminal Nilesh Ghaywal and that Ghaywal has direct links with Chandrakant Patil through Sameer Patil.
Following these allegations, Sameer Patil served a ₹50 crore defamation notice to Dhangekar on October 14 and subsequently filed both civil and criminal defamation cases in the Pune district court, hearing of which began on October 27.
During a recent such hearing, the Pune sessions court issued an interim order directing Dhangekar not to make any statements, comments or defamatory remarks about Sameer Patil till such time the case is decided.
Joint civic judge (senior division, Pune) K R Singhel in his order on Tuesday, a copy of which was made available on Thursday, said, “Then the defendant is restrained from making any defamatory statements or remarks against the plaintiff till the disposal of application for temporary injunction or until further order.”
Responding to the court’s decision, Sameer Patil said, “A few days ago, Dhangekar made false and malicious allegations against me. I filed a defamation suit in the special civil court. Honourable judge, K R Singhel, passed an order, restraining Dhangekar from making or publishing any defamatory or false statements against me in future.”
Sameer Patil claimed that Dhangekar levelled “false and baseless allegations for political gain and publicity without producing any proof.
“Despite being given an opportunity, Dhangekar failed to present any evidence or appear before the court. Considering all sides, the court issued an interim order in my favour. Going forward, the people of Pune will not trust his statements,” Sameer Patil said.
Previously, Dhangekar has targeted BJP leaders, including minister Chandrakant Patil and union minister Murlidhar Mohol, accusing them of irregularities in separate matters such as the Jain Boarding land deal. However, the sessions court directive has put the brakes on Dhangekar’s tirade, at least for now.
