MUMBAI, Feb. 27 -- In a setback to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya's family, a sessions court on Thursday acquitted Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut in a criminal defamation case filed by Somaiya's wife, Medha Somaiya, and set aside his 15-day jail sentence imposed by a magistrate last year. Additional sessions judge Mahesh Jadhav overturned the September 26, 2025 order of a Mazgaon magistrate court that had convicted Raut under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code for criminal defamation and directed him to pay Rs.25,000 as compensation to the complainant. The case stemmed from statements Raut made at a press conference on April 15, 2022, in which he alleged a Rs.100 crore scam in the construction of public toilets in the MBMC area. Raut had claimed that an NGO linked to the Somaiya family had committed financial irregularities in civic contracts and illegally cut mangroves to construct toilets using public funds. Medha Somaiya, a former TISS researcher and lecturer, filed a criminal complaint alleging that Raut's statements were baseless, malicious and intended to tarnish her and her husband's reputation. However, the sessions court found that the complainant failed to establish that Raut was directly responsible for the allegedly defamatory newspaper articles and media reports. The court further noted that some of the complainant's own witnesses admitted during cross-examination that their opinion of Medha Somaiya remained unchanged despite the allegations....