Kangana Ranaut requests Mumbai court to record her sister Rangoli Chandel’s statement in Javed Akhtar defamation case

Actor Kangana Ranaut has requested a Mumbai court to record the statement of her sister Rangoli Chandel in the defamation complaint filed by lyricist-writer Javed Akhtar. As per news agency PTI, Kangana moved the application before Metropolitan Magistrate R R Khan. The application was submitted by Kangana’s lawyer Advocate Rizwan Siddique on Friday. The court has kept the matter for order on August 11. (Also Read | Ekta Kapoor on Kangana Ranaut’s sasti copy comment for Taapsee Pannu)

Earlier this month, Kangana appeared before the court and pleaded not guilty in the case. It was her third appearance before the court after Javed Akhtar filed the complaint against her in November 2020. Before the proceedings could begin, her lawyer requested the court to ask everyone to leave as his client didn’t want a “media trial”. Kangana also recorded her verification statement in the cross-complaint filed by her. For recording her statement in the counter complaint, she had secured an order for an in-camera proceeding for a particular date in April.

Javed had filed the complaint in court in 2020, claiming that Kangana made defamatory statements against him in a television interview, which allegedly damaged his reputation. In his complaint, he claimed that Kangana dragged his name during an interview while referring to a ‘coterie’ existing in Bollywood, following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June 2020.

As per the report, Kangana had also moved a counter-complaint in the court against Javed for alleged ‘extortion and criminal intimidation’. The actor in her complaint said following her public dispute with her co-star, the lyricist had called her and her sister Rangoli Chandel to his house with ‘malafide intentions and ulterior motives and then criminally intimidated and threatened’ her. As per her complaint, Javed had forced her to tender a written apology to her co-star.

Kangana will be seen nexin Tejas, directed by Sarvesh Mewara, in which she will be portraying the role of an Indian Air Force pilot. She will also feature in Emergency in which she will play the role of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Written and directed by Kangana, the film also features Anupam Kher. The film is produced by Renu Pitti and Kangana Ranaut. The screenplay and dialogues are by Ritesh Shah.