Court frames charges against Saif, two friends in assault case

Trio pleaded not guilty after metropolitan court read out charges to them

Two years after actor Saif Ali Khan allegedly assaulted a South-Africa based businessman and his father-in-law at a Colaba hotel, a local court today framed charges against Saif and his two friends.

"The court today framed charges against Khan and his two friends - Shakeel Ladak and Bilal Amrohi - under section 325 (assault) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code," public prosecutor Wajeed Sheikh said.

However, the trio pleaded not guilty after the metropolitan court read out the charges to them.

Saif and his friends had been arrested following a complaint filed by NRI businessman Iqbal Mir Sharma after the two allegedly got into a fight at the Wasabi restaurant in Taj Hotel on February 22, 2012.

The trio was later released on bail.

Saif, 42, was accompanied by his wife Kareena Kapoor, her sister Karishma Kapoor, Malaika Arora Khan, Amrita Arora and some male friends at the hotel when the brawl broke out.

According to police, when Sharma protested the raucous chatter of the actor and his friends, Saif allegedly threatened them and subsequently punched Sharma in the nose, fracturing it.

The NRI businessman had also accused Saif and his friends of hitting his father-in-law Raman Patel.

However, Saif had maintained that Sharma made provocative statements and rather used abusive language against the women accompanying him and this led to the ruckus.

The police had filed a charge sheet against the trio on December 21, 2012.