Mumbai, May 14: A local court today issued summons to Rajya Sabha MP and Sena candidate from Mumbai north-west parliamentary constituency, Sanjay Nirupam, in a defamation case filed against him by winning Congress candidate, Sunil Dutt. On perusing the criminal complaint filed by Dutt, magistrate S Y Sishode issued summons returnable on June 24.

Sishode observed that he has come to a conclusion that prima facie a defamation case has been made out against Nirupam.

Dutt alleged in the complaint that during electioneering, Nirupam had alleged in a section of media that he (Dutt) had attended parliament only thrice in the last five years, whereas he himself had attended on more than 400 occasions.

Dutt said that Nirupam's statement was false and defamatory as he had attended parliament session 99 times. Dutt also produced letter from Lok Sabha Secretariat to prove his claim.

Dutt said he has been defamed by Nirupam, who had misled the people by making `false and defamatory' statement against him. Outside the court, his lawyer Majid Memon told reporters that Nirupam will have to come before the court and explain why he made such `false defamatory' statements against Dutt.

Refering to Nirupam's statement that Dutt was like his father, Memon said that Nirupam has proved to be a `disobedient and arrogant' son.

Bureau Report