Actor Malaika Arora was dropped as a prosecution witness on Wednesday in the 2012 assault case involving actor Saif Ali Khan, after she failed to support the prosecution’s version of events. A Mumbai court also cancelled a previously issued bailable warrant against her after she finally appeared.
The case relates to an alleged altercation on February 22, 2012, at Mumbai’s Taj Hotel, where Khan and friends were accused of assaulting businessman Iqbal Mir Sharma and his father-in-law following a complaint about their loud behavior. Kareena Kapoor Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Amrita Arora, and others were present that night.
Khan, along with Shakeel Ladak and Bilal Amrohi, was charged in 2014 under IPC sections 325 (grievous hurt) and 34 (common intention). Khan has claimed that Sharma provoked the incident with abusive language directed at the women in their group.
Arora appeared before Chief Judicial Magistrate K.S. Zanwar after missing earlier hearings, leading to the warrant in April. The next hearing is scheduled for August 22.
