Bombay High Court summons Uddhav Thackeray as witness

The Bombay high court on Friday issued summons to Shiv Sena president and editor of party mouthpiece, Saamana, Uddhav Thackeray, asking him to appear before it as witness in the suit filed by Uddhav’s estranged brother Jaidev Thackeray.

The court gave Uddhav the choice of appearing as witness in the suit after Saamana’s executive editor, Sanjay Raut, was also summoned as a witness.

Jaidev’s lawyer, Seema Sarnaik, sought that summons be issued to the editor and a reporter of Saamana, and also to editors and reporters of other newspapers for examination as witnesses, as these papers had published articles regarding the relations between Jaidev and his father, late Balasaheb Thackeray. Following this, Justice Gautam Patel issued summons, asking either the editor or executive editor of Saamana and a reporter of the newspaper to appear before the court. The court has fixed the next date of hearing on October 10. Jaidev has challenged his father’s will of December 13, 2011, in which Balasaheb Thackeray bequeathed a substantial part of his property to son Uddhav, while not giving anything to son Jaidev.