Mumbai: The sessions court on Friday suspended the sentence awarded to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, for defamation charges on the complaint of Kirit Somaiya's wife Dr Medha Somaiya. He was formally taken in custody and granted bail immediately. Raut had on Thursday had approached the sessions court challenging the conviction order sentencing him to 15 days imprisonment.
However, Raut could not attend the hearing on Thursday, for which his lawyer Manoj Pingale had contended that he couldn't appear before the court as he was busy with state elections.On Friday, to comply the conditions, Raut appeared before the court. The court had suspended his sentence and admitted his appeal.
The metropolitan Magistrate Aarti Kulkarni had convicted Raut for defamation and sentenced him to fifteen days of imprisonment with fine of Rs 25000,which is to be paid to Dr Medha as compensation. The sentence was suspended and he was granted bail. While convicting Raut the court has said he did not take due care and caution while making the statement.Dr. Medha in her complaint filed through advocate Vivekanand Gupta has alleged that Raut had held a press conference on April 15, 2022, wherein Raut made allegations of alleged scam in construction of toilets in Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation. Raut has alleged that Dr. Medha and Kirit Somaiya were involved in a scam of construction of these toilets.
Even on the next day, Raut allegedly made such statements which, the complainants claimed was telecasted on various TV channels and was also published on Marathi and English news papers.Raut had in his defence claimed that his statement was based on the report submitted by Mira Bhayander Corporation and letter written by MLA Pratap Sarnaik and corporator Pravin Patil.
The court said the documents are not duly proved and it is not the case that he himself had made inquiry with the Municipal Corporation.
