Defamation proceedings against Suniel Shetty have been dropped by a city court, which said the complaint was filed to extract money from the Bollywood actor by “maligning his reputation”. The court said not even a prima facie case of defamation was made out against Shetty and his advocate Vineet Dhanda and the complaint was filed against them by misusing the process of law.
“I also find myself in agreement with the submissions of counsel for the accused that present complaint has been filed by misusing the process of law as the complainant wants to extract money from accused Suniel Shetty (as he is a public figure) by maligning his reputation and dragging him into frivolous litigation, so that he would agree to pay huge amount to the complainant to avoid harassment,” Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Savitri said.
The court passed the order after hearing arguments on the point of framing notice against 52-year-old Shetty, who had appeared before the CMM in the last hearing, and his advocate on the complaint filed by Delhi-based stuntman Pooran Chauhan.
The defamation case was filed in October 2013 against Shetty and Dhanda by Chauhan, who had alleged that they had made false statements before the Delhi High Court and the media that he had beaten one of them inside the washroom of the court premises and an FIR was lodged against him.
Chauhan in his defamation suit has claimed that with the help of his false statement in 2011, Shetty had managed to obtain stay from the high court on summons issued for him to appear in a case in which the actor was accused of not paying him nearly Rs1 crore.
According to Chauhan, Shetty had told the High Court that on March 2011, his lawyer was beaten by the complainant inside a washroom in the court building. The High Court had earlier issued summons to Shetty and his film producing firm, Popcorn Entertainment Pvt ltd, on the recovery suit of Chauhan accusing the actor of not paying him nearly Rs1 crore.