Mumbai: The metropolitan magistrate court has issued bailable warrant against model and Bollywood actress Malaika Arora as she failed to turn up to depose before the court in connection with the brawl that took place in Taj hotel between actor Saif Ali Khan and an NRI businessman.
The court on Monday issued a bailable warrant against Arora as she failed to turn up before the court on Monday. This is the second warrant issued against her as she has not appeared before the court.
On February 15, the magistrate court had issued a bailable warrant against her, her sister Amruta and Farukh Wadia, who were all also present in the hotel at the time of the incident and had failed to appear before the court.
After the warrant, Amruta and Farukh appeared before the court and testified wherein Farukh was declared hostile. Malaika however, still has not testified in the case, because of which the court has issued a warrant against her again.
As per the prosecution case, on February 22, 2012, Saif was dining with a group of 12 people from the film industry when the scuffle allegedly took place. The complainant, NRI businessman Iqbal Sharma alleged that, as the group was very large, they made a lot of noise and disturbed other patrons.
The complaint stated that when the noise levels increased, Sharma objected and approached the restaurant authorities. Following which, Saif and his friends got into an argument with Sharma, whereby it was alleged that Saif and two of his friends assaulted Sharma.
After the incident, the Colaba police station registered a complaint against Saif and two others at the Colaba police station under Section 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 34 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code. The police filed the charge-sheet on December 21, 2012.
