The complainant was late Vasant Davkhare, a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, who had dragged the Sena leaders to the court over a campaign rally during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
Judge Santosh Age of the Kalyan District Court acquitted Thackeray, Shinde, Paranjpe and late corporator Rajendra Deolekar citing the lack of substantial evidence.
Paranjpe was pitted against Davkhare in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. During a rally organised in Kalyan by Deolekar, Shiv Sena leaders played certain audio and video recordings with references to Davkhare. Paranjpe went on to win the election.
Following his defeat, Davkhare filed a criminal defamation case, alleging that the recordings played at the rally maligned him.
During the prolonged trial, the court recorded the statements of 20 witnesses including political leaders and police officers deployed at the venue.
While the case dragged on, both the Shiv Sena and NCP split, with Eknath Shinde now leading the rival Shiv Sena. Notably, Davkhare’s son Niranjan Davkhare is now with the BJP.Last month, both Thackeray and Shinde recorded their statements before the court via video conference and denied the allegations against them.
Defence lawyers questioned the authenticity of the recordings produced by the prosecution and contended that there was no direct link between the accused and the recordings.
Taking note of significant inconsistencies and gaps in the investigation, Judge Santosh Age ordered the acquittal of all accused due to insufficient evidence.
Paranjpe, who later quit the Shiv Sena to join the NCP and recently returned to the fold of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, was present in the court on Wednesday.
“This defamation case stemmed from political allegations. We have always had immense respect for the late Vasant Davkhare and will continue to do so. He filed this suit following his election defeat, but the case lacked factual basis. Justice has finally been done,” he told reporters.
Advocate Jayesh Wani, who represented Uddhav Thackeray, also welcomed the verdict.
