A court in Mumbai on Thursday granted bail to actor Kangana Ranaut in the defamation case filed against her by lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar, Bar and Bench reported.
The Andheri metropolitan magistrate’s court had issued a bailable warrant against Ranaut on March 1 after she failed to appear before it.
Ranaut approached the court for the cancellation of the warrant. She was granted bail after furnishing sureties of Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000.
Akhtar had filed the defamation case against Ranaut in November last year for her remarks against him in a TV interview.
While speaking about the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Ranaut had reportedly told Republic TV’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami that Akhtar was part of a “suicide gang” and that “he can get away with pretty much anything in Mumbai”.
Also read: Bailable warrant issued against Kangana Ranaut in defamation complaint filed by Javed Akhtar
Akhtar had accused Ranaut of causing “irreparable damage” to his reputation. “Each and every allegation and imputation made in the said interview is false, defamatory, malicious, and has been made with reckless disregard to the truth,” he said in his complaint.
In December, the Andheri metropolitan magistrate’s court had directed the police to investigate Akhtar’s complaint against Ranaut. In January, the police summoned Ranaut in connection with the case.
Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai apartment on June 14, in what the police initially said appeared to be a case of suicide. An All India Institute of Medical Sciences panel confirmed this in October.
Three central agencies – the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate, the Narcotics Control Bureau – were drawn into the investigation.
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