Kalyan court acquits Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde in 17-year-old defamation case

Uddhav Thackeray (R) and Eknath Shinde (L). File | Photo credit: PTI

Kalyan District and Sessions Court Judge Santosh Aage on Wednesday (September 23, 2026) acquitted Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, Anand Paranjap and Rajendra Devlekar in the defamation case filed by Vasant Davkhare 17 years ago. The court cited a lack of evidence.

The court ruled that the records, testimony and statements did not support the charges. She noted gaps in the investigation and sequence of events by the prosecution and defense attorneys.

Vasant Davkhare was the NCP candidate from the Kalyan Lok Sabha seat in 2009. Anand Paranjape was the Shiv Sena candidate. Mr. Paranjape won. A meeting took place during the campaign. Uddhav Thackeray, Eknath Shinde and Anand Paranjape showed audio and visual recordings of Davkhare to the people through television based on the complaint.

Rajendra Devlekar organized the meeting. Mr. Devlekar was a corporator from Kalyan with the Shiv Sena. He died. After the elections, Mr. Davkhare filed a case against Mr. Thackeray, Mr. Shinde, Mr. Paranjape and Mr. Devlekar. The meeting allegedly slandered him.

The case remained in the Kalyan court for 17 years. It came up for a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday. Anand Paranjape attended. Advocate Jayesh Wani argued for Uddhav Thackeray. Wani is the spokesperson of Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray.

Twenty witness statements were recorded. These included party workers, officials, on-site police officers, police officers, organizers and investigators. The trial under Section 313 against the leaders has been completed. A month earlier, Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray had recorded their statements before the court through a video conferencing system. Thackeray denied the allegations.

During the hearing, the accused’s side raised questions regarding the record, the transcript, the laboratory report and the investigation. It said that the accused has no connection with the CD case and that evidence is not available. The court examined the aspects and acquitted the accused as there was no evidence and that the sequence had gaps and additions according to the defense.

Adv. Jayesh Wani said that the defamation case was filed with a vengeance in politics. The goal was to win the election. The witnesses in this case did not speak with the facts. Records showed that testimony was taken prior to the incident. The sequence of events in this crime was inconsistent with the record and had no basis. The court therefore acquitted Mr. Thackeray. The truth won.

Anand Paranjape said that Vasant Davkhare had filed this defamation case based on politics related allegations. We have always respected Vasant Davkhare. We will continue to do so. After his defeat, Mr. Davkhare filed a criminal complaint in the matter. There were no facts in this case. Now we have justice.

Published – 24 Sep 2026 13:08 IST