Nawab Malik's son-in-law sends defamation notice to Fadnavis

Mumbai: Maharashtra Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik's son-in-law Sameer Khan has sent a legal notice to the former Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis for levelling "defamatory" and "false allegations" against him.

According to the copy of the legal notice, shared on Twitter by Nawab Malik and his daughter Nilofer Malik Khan, Khan also demanded Rs 5 crore on account of "mental torture, agony and financial loss."

Fadnavis on November 1 accused Sameer Khan of "possessing drugs, while the investigation into the case is still going on."

"The allegations were baseless and without any merits. The charge sheet filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau does not support even a single allegation levied by you. The Panchnama dated January 14 clearly says that the house was searched and no contraband/suspicious substance was found in my client's house or under his possession. But from which source you obtained such false, frivolous and baseless report is better known to you," the legal notice said.

The investigation in a drug case involving Sameer Khan was resumed by the SIT team on Monday.

Sameer Khan was arrested on January 13 by NCB for dealing with commercial quantities of the drug. He was granted bail on September 27, after eight months in prison.

The high-profile drug bust case in which Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested has now turned into a war of words between Maharashtra Minister Malik and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis making allegations and counter-allegations against each other.

While Malik had alleged that former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been shielding NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede and accused Fadnavis of "criminalisation of politics".