My mother is Hindu, father Muslim: Salman Khan accuses Panvel farmhouse neighbour of bringing in religion to defame him

NEW DELHI: Bollywood Salman Khan has filed a defamation case against Ketan Kakkad, his neighbour at Panvel farmhouse. The 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' star, through his lawyer, has accused his neighbour of unnecessarily dragging his religious identity and defaming him in public. The Bollywood actor's legal team has requested the court to remove or block all abusive content against him on social networking sites. 

For the unversed, Salman Khan, who lives in suburban Mumbai, owns a farmhouse in Panvel in Raigad district of Maharashtra. Ketan, who is also a Mumbai resident, owns a plot on the hill, next to Salman Khan's farmhouse. According to Salman's suit, Ketan made slanderous comments against the actor while speaking to a YouTuber. 

As per a report in Live Law, Salman has filed a civil suit alleging that Ketan Kakkad defamed him during an interview with a YouTube channel.

The report stated that the actor's lawyer Pradeep Gandhi read out substantial portions of Ketan Kakkad's posts and interviews in front of the court on Thursday. He said that Ketan had accused the actor of being ‘a front for the D Gang, commenting on his religious identity and implying that he was connected to the ruling party at the central and state level, levelling allegations of child trafficking, further alleging that bodies of film stars are buried in his farmhouse.'

At this, Salman responded through his lawyer, saying, "Without proper proof, all these allegations are a figment of the defendant's imagination. In a property dispute, why are you tarnishing my personal reputation. Why are you bringing in religion? My mother is a Hindu, my father is a Muslim and my brothers have married Hindus. We celebrate all festivals."

He further said, "You are an educated person... not a Gunda-chhap to make such allegations. The easiest thing now-a-days is to gather some people, get on social media and vent out all your anger." He added that he had no aspirations to join politics.

Meanwhile, Salman Khan has made social media giants like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and search engine giant Google, parties to the suit, demanding that they be directed to block and remove the 'defamatory content' from their websites. Salman wants a permanent order restraining Ketan from posting or publishing defamatory content about the actor or his farmhouse.