Minister Dada Bhuse withdraws defamation case against Sanjay Raut after courtroom truce

Maharashtra Education Minister Dada Bhuse on Saturday withdrew the criminal defamation case he had filed against Shiv Sena UBT MP Sanjay Raut over allegations of a ₹178 crore irregularity linked to the Girna Agro project.
The case was listed before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Malegaon for which Bhuse and Raut arrived together, sat side-by-side during the hearing, and later addressed the media jointly, signalling an end to the months-long dispute.

Raut had earlier alleged on social media platform X that ₹178.25 crore had been collected from farmers in the name of shares, while official records reflected only about ₹1.67 crore. Calling it a loot, he had warned of a larger expose. After the hearing, Raut said the controversy stemmed from incorrect information.

“This matter is over. Our relationship goes back a long way. What happened was based on wrong inputs,” he said, adding that he had expressed regret to farmers and citizens.

Bhuse confirmed that the case was being withdrawn following Raut’s apology.

“Confusion was created among the people of Malegaon. The allegation was made on a wrong basis. Since he has expressed regret to farmers and the public, we have decided to withdraw the case,” the Minister said.

He reiterated that only around ₹1.7 crore had been mobilised in efforts to revive the Girna cooperative sugar factory and that the funds were transferred through RTGS to a company named Armstrong. There was no ₹178 crore scam, he said.