CHENNAI: A plea has been filed in the Madras High Court to quash an order, dated April 12, 2017, of a Magistrate Court, which rejected a plea to initiate defamation proceedings against Shivaji Rao Gaikwad aka ‘superstar’ Rajinikanth for his alleged utterances against financier S Mukanchand Bothra of Sowcarpet in 2015.
Justice M V Muralidharan, before whom the criminal revision petition from Bothra came up on Friday, ordered notice to the actor, returnable by January 25.
According to Bothra, the revision petitioner, he filed a civil suit in 2015 against Kasthuri Raja, father of actor Dhanush, who is a son-in-law of Rajnikanth, in connection with a cheque bounce case. In the suit, he claimed that he had lent money to Kasthuri Raja only after obtaining the consent of Rajinikanth. However, In a press statement, Rajini had allegedly said that Bothra was attempting to extort money.
Bothra filed a defamation suit against Rajini for his remarks. It was, however, dismissed by the VII Metropolitan Magistrate in GT on April 12, 2017. Hence, the present revision petition was filed to set aside the magistrate’s order.