Himalayan News Service

Mumbai, May 11:

Bollywood actor and Congress candidate from Mumbai North West constituency Sunil Dutt has filed a defamation case against his poll rival Sanjay Nirupam of the Shiv Sena. Dutt filed the case against the Shiv Sena leader in a metropolitan court yesterday. The court has deferred the matter till Friday. Nirupam is alleged to have “defamed the Congress leader by accusing him of attending the last Lok Sabha only on three occasions”. Dutt’s advocate Majeed Menon said official records of parliament showed he had attended the Lok Sabha 99 times. Menon said: “This allegation is untrue and the statement had been responsible for Dutt losing goodwill among the electorate.” Nirupam has been served two notices to refrain from making baseless allegations against his opponent but “did not respond”, according to Menon. The offence is punishable with two years simple imprisonment and a fine. Nirupam said: “I was provided the statistics by my election team. I have asked them to do a recheck”. “We will reply to the summons in court,” he said.