Mumbai: Lawyer sues man for ‘defamation’

In his defamation suit, Swapnil Kale claimed that Pokharkar accused him of stealing the cheque. While cross-examining Nalawade and Kale, Pokharkar is accused of putting forward “slanderous” suggestions that Kale was responsible for stealing the cheque.

“The accused tried to present the complainant’s status as low in society,” Swapnil Kale alleged in his suit. (Representational Image)

A lawyer has sued a man for defaming him in open court, accusing him of “stealing a cheque” in a case in which he appeared as a witness. Advocate Swapnil Kale, who practises in Thane, Navi Mumbai and Pune, sent a defamation notice to his neighbour in Airoli, Tushar Pokharkar, last month, claiming a compensation of Rs 30 lakh, citing damage to his professional practice. “Each time clients approach me these days, they only ask me one thing: ‘What happened to that cheque you stole?’,” said Kale.

He became embroiled in a case after his cousin Rahul Nalawade gave a loan of Rs 1 lakh to Pokharkar in 2015. At the time, Kale added, Pokharkar needed the money as his father had been hurt in a road accident. But instead of paying back Nalawade’s money, Pokharkar behaved rudely and issued him a cheque only after several reminders, which the bank dishonoured due to lack of funds in his account, said Kale.

In September 2015, Nalawade filed a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act against Pokharkar at the magistrate court in Kurla. During the trial, Kale appeared as a witness for Nalawade to depose against Pokharkar.

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In his defamation suit, Kale claimed that Pokharkar accused him of stealing the cheque. While cross-examining Nalawade and Kale, Pokharkar is accused of putting forward “slanderous” suggestions that Kale was responsible for stealing the cheque. “The accused tried to present the complainant’s status as low in society,” Kale alleged in his suit.

In July 2016, during final arguments before the magistrate, Pokharkar is alleged to have prayed for Kale to be convicted under the Negotiable Instruments Act for stealing a cheque. “The court was full at that time and people were laughing. It was humiliating,” Kale added. The case was decided later in 2016 in Nalawade’s favour, with the court convicting Pokharkar, sentencing him to 2 months’ simple imprisonment and directing him to pay a fine of Rs 2 lakh. Pokharkar successfully appealed against the jail term in the Mumbai Sessions Court but paid the fine, he said. But Kale alleged that even after legal proceedings were concluded, Pokharkar continued to spread rumours of him being a thief. In his suit, Kale stated that he suffered a professional loss to the tune of Rs 30,00,000 due to loss of business caused by the rumours Kale spread.

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