Medha Somaiya alleged that Sanjay Raut had made defamatory statements against her and her husband. (File)
A Mumbai court on Thursday canceled a bailable warrant issued against Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut after he appeared before it in connection with a defamation complaint filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya's wife Medha Somaiya.
The Sewri metropolitan magistrate's court had last month issued a summon against Sanjay Raut, asking him to appear before it on July 4.
However, he did not turn up before the court after which a bailable warrant was issued against him.
On Thursday, Sanjay Raut along with his lawyers appeared before the magistrate and moved a plea for cancellation of the warrant, which the court allowed.
The court also accepted the Rajya Sabha member's bail plea and released him on a personal bond of Rs 15,000.
Earlier, the court, while issuing summons, had held that documents and video clips produced on record prima facie revealed the accused made defamatory statements against Medha Somaiya so that it will be seen by the public at large and read by people in newspapers.
It was also prima-facie proved by the complainant that the words spoken by Sanjay Raut were such that it harmed the reputation of the Medha Somaiya, the court had said.
Medha Somaiya in her complaint alleged that Sanjay Raut had made baseless and defamatory allegations against her and her husband, accusing them of being involved in a scam worth Rs 100 crore over the construction and maintenance of some public toilets under the jurisdiction of the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation.
She had urged the court to begin proceedings against Sanjay Raut on charges of defamation, as defined under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)