Devendra Fadnavis' wife has issued a legal notice to Nawab Malik, the head of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), for allegedly "tarnishing the image of her family" through his alleged defamatory tweets. Amruta Fadnavis, who shared a copy of the legal notification on Twitter, told Malik that he had 48 hours to erase the tweets and issue a "unconditional apology or face action."
Fadnavis and his wife were accused of having close ties with an alleged drug dealer, Jaydeep Rana, by the NCP politician, who is currently a minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) cabinet. Malik had posted photos of Amruta and Rana at an event together. Amruta has defended the photos, claiming that they were taken during an event in Mumbai to promote river protection, and that Rana was hired by the event's creative team.
"The said event was organised by activists who has formed a social group under the name of 'River March' with an initiative to save the rivers of Mumbai...It is stated that Mr. Jaideep Rana was hired by the creative team of 'River March' and our client or her family had no association with him," the notice reads.
Nawab Malik "consciously and selectively" published the photos, according to Amruta's lawyers, "reflects your malafide intentions to tarnish" her image.
The legal notice came a day after Sameer Khan, Nawab Malik's son-in-law, who is currently on bail in a drug-related case, sent a similar notice to Devendra Fadnavis for "mental torture, agony, financial loss, and injury" inflicted on his reputation as a result of the BJP leader's statement on a television channel.
After Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son, Aryan, was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in the drugs-on-cruise case, the allegations and counter-allegations were made. The Bombay High Court later granted Aryan Khan bail. Malik first went after NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, who was directing the investigation into the drugs-on-cruise case, accusing him of conducting an extortion ring and fabricating caste certificates to gain access to the Indian Revenue Services (IRS).