New Delhi, July 9 (IANS): A court here Wednesday granted bail to BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in a defamation case filed against him by former JD-U leader Shabir Ali for linking his name with Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal.
Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain granted bail to Naqvi and asked him to furnish a personal bond of Rs.10,000.
Naqvi appeared before the court in pursuance to the summons issued against him. However, Ali did not appear in court.
The court observed that no suitable explanation was given by complainant (Ali) regarding his absence.
Naqvi's counsel Ajay Digpaul said that being the complainant, Ali should have appeared before the court.
The court directed Ali to appear before it on the next date of hearing and fixed the matter for Sep 16.
Ali alleged that Naqvi tarnished his image by linking his name as a friend of Bhatkal in March.
He said in his complaint that Naqvi's tweet dragging his name with the Indian Mujaheedin suspect was widely circulated in the print and social media and it was not disowned by Naqvi as apparent from the footage of his statement given to news channels.