Lok Sabha MP and Shiv Sena's (Shinde faction) leader Rahul Shewale served a defamation notice to Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana for publishing a report on December 29, 2022 stating that Shewale owns a hotel and real estate business in Karachi, Pakistan.
Shewale, who belongs to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's camp demanded an unconditional apology within 15 days, adding it should be published in both Marathi and Hindi versions of the newspaper besides being carried online. The news should be removed from Saamana's website, the notice further stated.
"My client strongly refutes all the allegations made in the said articles and categorically states that this is merely a feeble attempt on your part to damage the reputation and political career of my client by levelling false accusations against him to malign his image before the public at large. Such defamatory, frivolous and false articles did not severely hamper his reputation but also hurt the sentiments of thousands of people who hold him in high regard," said the notice issued by Shewale's lawyer.
"The aforesaid defamatory articles have already caused immense damage, loss of reputation and goodwill to him, which he has painstakingly built over the past decades, beyond repair and therefore Saamana and your reporters are liable to face both civil and criminal proceedings for the same damage among other offences," the notice said.
The notice said that the defamatory articles published in Saamana are a concocted story, devoid of any merits and the same is a classic example of "vendetta journalism."
It further said that the accusations are not supported with any corroborating evidence and are clearly based on the whims of people who are relentlessly aspiring to cause harm to my client's reputation- both political and personal
Shewale courted controversy after his photographs with a woman surfaced, followed by the complaint of rape. Shewale has denied all the allegations and claimed the woman has relations with the underworld, including gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
Last month, addressing a press conference, the Eknath Shinde faction leader said, "The lady who accused me, her brother is herself in jail in a murder case, her mother has a criminal background, and her brother is a drug peddler, and her sister is working as a bar girl. She has connections with the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and even Pakistan."
( With inputs from ANI )
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