Amruta Fadnavis seeks apology from Nawab Malik for 'defamatory tweets'

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis' wife Amruta Fadnavis on Thursday sent a legal notice to Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, seeking apology for trying to link her with an alleged drug peddler by tweeting certain pictures.

Malik, the chief spokesperson of the NCP, should tender unconditional apology within 48 hours and delete his "defamatory tweets", the notice said. If he didn't, she will initiate proceedings against him under section 499 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and also file a civil suit for damages, it said. The notice, sent through Parinam Law Associates, claimed that Malik tarnished Amruta Fadnavis and her family's image. The intention was "to portray and suggest that our client has connection with drug peddlers, more particularly one...along with whom, the images of our client are shared in the said defamatory tweets," the notice said.

The NCP leader also held a press conference and levelled "false and baseless allegations" as he wanted to gain "cheap political mileage" and divert the attention of the public "from the misrule and failure of the ruling government (in Maharashtra) and the action taken by central agencies against the drug menace," the notice claimed. The pictures tweeted by Malik had been clicked during an event organized in Mumbai for the conservation of rivers four years ago by a group called 'River March', it said. The alleged drug peddler seen in the pictures with Amruta had been hired by the River March, and she and her family had no link with him, the notice said. On Wednesday, Malik accused Devendra Fadnavis of sweeping under the carpet a case of seized fake notes and appointing people with criminal background to government boards when the latter was Maharashtra chief minister. The BJP leader had earlier alleged that Malik's family had had a dubious land deal with two convicts of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.