A magistrate court here on Tuesday cancelled a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik in a defamation complaint filed against him by BJP worker Mohit Bharatiya in 2021.

The matter has been adjourned to October 25 for recording of evidence.

Additional Metropolitan Magistrate S B Kale (Mazgaon court) last month issued the NBW against Malik for failing to appear before the court.

The NBW was cancelled after the former state minister marked his presence before the court on Tuesday.

In October 2021, Bharatiya filed a complaint against Malik for allegedly making "baseless comments" in connection with the Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) cruise drug seizure case, in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested.

He had sought registration of offence against Malik under Indian Penal Code sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation).

Bharatiya in his complaint alleged that Malik, in a press conference on the NCB's action, had “purposefully and intentionally defamed” him and his brother-in-law Rishab Sachdev.

In the complaint, Bharatiya alleged that Malik grossly misused his dominant position to defame him and his family with highly speculative statements without any evidence to substantiate his malicious claims.

The Enforcement Directorate arrested Malik in February 2022 in a case allegedly linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his associates.

Malik is currently out on interim bail granted to him last month on medical grounds by the Supreme Court.

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