Mumbai:
A court in Mumbai has directed the police to investigate the defamation complaint filed by Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar against actor Kangana Ranaut, and asked them to submit a report on January 16.
Mr Akhtar had last month filed a criminal complaint against Ms Ranaut before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate, for allegedly making defamatory and baseless comments against him in television interviews. He had sought action against the actor under relevant sections of the law.
The magistrate court today asked Juhu police to investigate the matter and submit their report on January 16, his lawyer Niranjan Mundargi said.
The veteran lyricist was also present in the court during the proceedings.
His lawyer argued that Javed Akhtar has built his reputation from scratch in the last 55 years.
He said that Kangana Ranaut made baseless comments against Mr Akhtar on national television and social media, causing damage to his reputation.
In his complaint, Mr Akhtar has alleged that Kangana Ranaut dragged his name while referring to a “coterie” existing in Bollywood following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June this year.
She had also claimed that Javed Akhtar had threatened her to not speak about her alleged relationship with actor Hrithik Roshan, it said.
All these statements made by Kangana Ranaut have garnered views in lakhs and thus tarnished Mr Akhtar’s reputation, the complaint added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)