In a major political development in the run-up to the State Assembly polls, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut was on Thursday found guilty and sentenced t0 15 days’ imprisonment in a 2022 defamation case filed by Medha K. Somaiya - wife of BJP’s former MP Kirit Somaiya.
A Metropolitan Magistrate’s court awarded him a fine of Rs 25,000, in the same case.
Immediately afterwards, Raut moved an application before the court which suspended his jail sentence for 30 days to enable him file an appeal in an upper court. The court also granted him bail against a cash surety of Rs 15,000.
The 25th Metropolitan Magistrate, Mazgaon, came out with this politically significant 0rder in a libel suit filed in April 2022 by Medha Somaiya against Raut, who had alleged a Rs 100-crore toilet construction scam linked to Yuva Pratishthan, a non-government organisation run by the Somaiyas, at Mira Road in Thane district.
