Actor Salman Khan has sought an apology from news agency ANI and the advocates of the two men accused of firing outside his house for linking him to underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s group D-Company, Livelaw reported. A report published by ANI claimed that Khan has “known relations” with the group accused of terror and extortion.  

The actor sent a legal notice to ANI for the report, which was published on its website and shared with other news portals and channels on September 4. It included a short interview with Amit Mishra, advocate of Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, accused in the case related to firing outside Khan’s Galaxy Apartments in Mumbai’s Bandra. Mishra claimed that Gupta and Pal were threatened by D-Company members and that Khan has “known links” with a gangster and “perhaps” wants to get his clients killed.  

Khan demanded that an “unconditional apology” by both ANI and Mishra be published prominently in significant newspapers within 48 hours. He also demanded the news agency pull down its report.

In the legal notice, Khan denied the allegations made by Mishra, calling them “false, baseless, malicious, grossly defamatory, misleading, damaging” and made with an intent to “malign the image and goodwill” of the actor. It said that both Mishra and ANI were trying to stir up controversy and grab public attention by making such statements at the cost of his reputation. It said that this offence amounts to defamation.  

Newslaundry had earlier reported how ANI became the Modi government’s favourite media outlet. Read here.