BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has lifted the interim stay on the arrest of AITC MP and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, in a defamation case filed by Akash Vijayvargiya, former MLA and son of Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya.
The High Court’s single judge Bench of Justice Pramod Kumar Agrawal dismissed the petition filed by the Diamond Harbour MP and vacated the stay granted in November 2025 on the execution of the arrest warrant issued against him by a Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court in Bhopal for repeated non appearance during hearings in the defamation case.
“No one appeared for the petitioner (Banerjee) even in the pass over round, no one has appeared on behalf of the petitioner in the first round also. It seems that the petitioner has lost interest in prosecuting this petition. Accordingly, the present petition stands dismissed for the want of prosecution. Also, the stay granted on November 12, 2025 on the execution of proceedings for execution of the arrest warrant issued by JMFC Bhopal Court is also vacated,” the judge stated in a single page order on Wednesday.
Earlier, on Tuesday, the same Bench had accepted a plea by Banerjee’s senior counsel seeking one day's time to argue the matter.
In its Tuesday order, the High Court, while listing the petition for hearing on Wednesday, stated “On earlier occasion (May 8, 2026), this Court had ordered that if on the next date of hearing, counsel for applicant will not argue the matter, then the Court shall consider the application on merits and interim relief will not be continued. But looking at the request made by learned senior counsel, one day's time is again granted to argue the matter. It is made clear that if on the next date of hearing, counsel for petitioner will not argue the matter, then this Court shall consider the application on merits and interim relief will not be continued.”
The High Court’s Wednesday order is likely to increase the legal troubles of Banerjee, who is already facing an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate over corruption allegations.
In November 2020, while addressing a public meeting in Kolkata, Banerjee, the AITC MP from Diamond Harbour, had allegedly referred to Akash Vijayvargiya, then BJP MLA from Indore III, as a “goon”.
Objecting to the remark, Akash Vijayvargiya filed a defamation complaint against Banerjee in April 2021. The MP/MLA Court in Bhopal began hearing the case on May 1, 2021. Owing to Banerjee’s continued non appearance before the court, the Bhopal JMFC court issued arrest warrants against him in 2024 and 2025.
Last year, Banerjee moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the arrest warrants issued by Judicial Magistrate First Class Tathagat Yagnik of the Bhopal court.
On November 12, 2025, the High Court granted interim relief to Banerjee by staying the execution of the arrest warrant issued by the Bhopal court.