T'gana court issues NBW against Digvijay Singh in defamation case

A city court Friday issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh for not appearing before it in connection with a defamation case filed against him by the AIMIM.

The Eighth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Padmavathi issued the non-bailable warrant and posted the matter to January 3 for further hearing.

AIMIM leader S A Hussain Anwar had filed a petition against the Congress leader in August 2016 alleging that he had defamed AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, saying the Hyderabad MP's party was contesting elections in other states for the sake of making money.

Later, speaking to reporters, the counsel for the petitioner, Mohammed Asif Amjad said they had issued notice to both Singh and the Editor of a Urdu daily, which carried the article, seeking apology and subsequently moved the court as they failed to respond.

Singh failed to appear before the court and also did not file any petition seeking exemption from appearance, forcing the judge to issue a non-bailable warrant against him, the counsel said.

However, the Editor of the newspaper had filed a petition seeking exemption from personal appearance, he added.