Mumbai:

A Mumbai court on Monday issued summons to actor Kangana Ranaut after the city police informed it that an offence of defamation, as alleged by lyricist Javed Akhtar against the actor, is made out and further probe into it is required.

The Andheri metropolitan magistrate in December 2020 directed the Juhu police to conduct an inquiry into the complaint of defamation filed by Mr Akhtar against Ms Ranaut before the court in November last year.

The police on Monday submitted their report to the court, stating that offences alleged by the complainant (Javed Akhtar) against Ms Ranaut are made out for further investigation.

Magistrate R R Khan, after perusing the report, issued summons to Kangana Ranaut.

The court posted the matter for hearing on March 1.

Mr Akhtar’s advocate Jay Kumar Bharadwaj on Monday told the court that the police last month issued summons to Ms Ranaut, asking her to remain present before the police for recording her statement.

But, the actor is yet to respond to the same.

Mr Akhtar, in his complaint, alleged that Kangana Ranaut had made defamatory comments against him in an interview, by dragging his name while referring to a “coterie” existing in Bollywood, following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June last year.

The lyricist in his plea claimed that the “baseless comments” made by Ms Ranaut had caused damage to his reputation.