Police didn't take defamation plaint against Sanjay Raut under Thackeray government's pressure: Kirit Somaiya

A magistrate's court earlier in the day sentenced Raut, a Sena (UBT) leader, to 15 days' imprisonment on a defamation complaint filed by Medha Somaiya, and also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000. He was later granted bail.

Mumbai: After a court convicted Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut for defamation, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya on Thursday alleged that police had refused to accept his wife's complaint against Raut under pressure from the then Uddhav Thackeray government.

A magistrate's court here earlier in the day sentenced Raut, a Sena (UBT) leader, to 15 days' imprisonment on a defamation complaint filed by Medha Somaiya, and also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000. He was later granted bail.

"We had to approach the court to get our case registered, and after 28 months, we got justice," Kirit Somaiya said, speaking to reporters here along with his wife after the court's ruling.

"Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister of Maharashtra when Sanjay Raut levelled allegations of Rs 100 crore corruption against me and my wife who runs Yuvak Pratishthan, an NGO that consults on toilet construction. The original tender amount was Rs 3.61 crore," he said.

"We tried filing a police complaint against Raut, but it was not accepted because of Thackeray's pressure. We approached the local court here on May 18, 2022, and today, it gave its judgement," Kirit Somaiya added.

Raut levelled 27 different allegations against him and his family between February and July 2022 but never produced a single document to support them, the BJP leader further said.

Medha Somaiya said she and her husband would not tolerate baseless allegations.

"This case against Raut would set an example for society. If someone tries to tarnish me or my organisation, I will stand up against it," she said.

Advocate Vivekanand Gupta, one of the lawyers who represented Somaiya, said they had sought two years' prison sentence for Raut during arguments on the quantum of punishment.