Mumbai police summon Kangana in Javed Akhtar defamation case

Mumbai police have summoned Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut in a defamation case filed by veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar, an official said.

Kangana has been asked to appear before the Juhu police in Mumbai on Friday, the police official said.

Akhtar filed a criminal complaint against Kangana in November last year before the Andheri metropolitan magistrate for allegedly making defamatory and baseless comments against him in television interviews.

He claimed that she dragged his name while referring to a "coterie" existing in Bollywood, in TV interviews after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June last year.

The complaint said Kangana had falsely claimed that Akhtar threatened her to keep silent about her alleged relationship with actor Hrithik Roshan. It noted that Kangana's remarks had tarnished Akhtar's public image.

The court on January 17 allowed the police time till February 1 to file a report of their probe into the defamation complaint.