#MeToo: Did MJ Akbar hire 97 lawyers to fight defamation case against Priya Ramani?

Union Minister MJ Akbar slapped a private criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani on Monday amid the raging #MeToo campaign against male predators. Now, reports have been doing the rounds that the Union Minister has hired a battery of 97 lawyers to represent him in the Patiala House Courts. However, Karanjawala & Co, the law firm which is fighting Akbar's case, said that only six will appear on MJ Akbar’s behalf.

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“Our firm has 100 lawyers. We usually have all the names printed in one vakalatnama with only the ones who will appear in the case signing it. Our criminal team has six members and only those six will appear in this case. Only they have signed the vakalatnama,” a spokesperson of the firm told News18. 

Senior partner Sandeep Kapur, Principal associate Veer Sandhu, Senior associates Niharika Karanjawala, Apoorva Pandey, Mayank Dutta and Associate Gudipati G Kashyap, are the ones who have signed the vakalatnama and are likely to appear in the case, according to the firm. 

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Ramani recently accused the minister of state for external affairs of sexual misconduct as the #MeToo campaign took India by storm.

Reacting to the accusations and allegations against him, Akbar had issued a statement on Sunday and said that he would take legal action against the accusers.