Poet & veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar and Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut have ended their five-year-long legal battle by withdrawing the defamation and criminal intimidation cases they had filed against each other.
The Bollywood celebrities personally appeared before Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Bandra, where Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate AK Awari recorded the settlement reached through mediation and disposed of the cases.
The 79-year-old lyricist had filed a defamation complaint against the Bollywood actor in December 2020, alleging that she had damaged his reputation by making false statements about him in a July 19, 2020, interview with Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami.
As per Akhtar, Ranaut had unnecessarily dragged his name into the controversy surrounding the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
The Bollywood actor, currently a Member of Parliament from Mandi, responded with a counter-complaint, accusing Akhtar of criminal intimidation, extortion and outraging her modesty.
Both parties agreed to drop their respective complaints after mediation.