Thackeray case hearing on June 15

NASHIK, APRIL 21: The hearing of the defamation case filed by Leader of the Opposition in the state Legislative Council, Chhagan Bhujbal, against Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and two others, has been adjourned till June 15.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) M H More adjourned the case as neither Chhagan Bhujbal nor Thackeray appeared in court as scheduled today. The defamation case was filed in the Nashik court by Bhujbal on September 4, 1997, against Thackeray, Sanjay Raut and Subhash Desai (editor, executive editor and publisher, respectively, of the Sena mouthpiece Saamna), accusing them of publishing defamatory reports in July 1997.

The reports, published on July 23 and 24, 1997, had accused Bhujbal of masterminding the desecration of a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar at Ramabai Nagar, Ghatkopar in Mumbai on July 11, 1997. The incident had led to a riot and subsequent police firing in which about a dozen Dalits were killed.