Thackeray and Raut, in their discharge application, had said that there was no iota of evidence against them. They claimed to be innocent and said they were "falsely implicated in the alleged offence based on suspicion". Shewale, in his complaint filed in January this year through advocate Chitra Salunke, objected to the articles with the headline "Rahul Shewale has hotel, real estate business in Karachi" published on December 29, 2022.
