Mumbai, June 17: On legal and technical grounds, the Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Narayan Rane has sought discharge from a defamation case filed against him by Samajwadi Party's Maharashtra unit president Abu Asim Azmi. The discharge plea was heard yesterday by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate V P Taware who would give his ruling on July 15 after hearing both the sides.

In a related development, the court exempted Rane as well as Azmi from appearance for the day on their plea that they were pre-occupied.

Two years ago, Rane had alleged in a section of the media that Azmi had met underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in Karachi during the former's visit to Mecca in 2001. He alleged that Azmi had gone to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia and secretly met Dawood.

Azmi denied his links with Dawood and produced passport to show that he had not visited Pakistan. He urged before the court that his image in public had been lowered with the remarks made by Rane.


Azmi asked Rane to apologise for allegedly making derogatory references to him in a section of the media. However, Rane chose to ignore him following which Azmi filed a criminal case against Rane in a court of metropolitan magistrate.
Bureau Report