Mumbai, 26 Sept

A Mumbai court on Thursday convicted Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut and sentenced him to 15 days simple imprisonment in a defamation complaint filed against him by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya's wife Medha Somaiya.

The court later suspended the sentence for 30 days and granted bail to the Rajya Sabha member on his application for the same.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Aarti Kulkarni convicted Raut for the offence under Indian Penal Code Section 500 (punishment for defamation).

Besides the jail sentence, the court has also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 him.

After the court passed its judgement, Raut's lawyer filed two pleas for suspension of the sentence and granting him bail, which the court allowed.

Medha Somaiya, in her complaint filed through advocate Vivekanand Gupta, had alleged that Raut made baseless and completely defamatory allegations against her and her husband.

She said Raut accused them of being involved in a Rs 100 crore scam over the construction and maintenance of some public toilets under the jurisdiction of the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation.

"The statements made by the accused to the media are per se defamatory. The statements have been made to malign my character in the eyes of the general public," the complaint had stated. -PTI