Mumbai: YouTuber Rashid Siddiquee has opposed the defamation notice issued against him by actor Akshay Kumar in connection with the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and refused to pay Rs 500 crore damages sought by the star, claiming there was nothing defamatory in his videos, news agency PTI reported.
Rashid has also urged Akshay to withdraw the notice, failing which he would initiate “appropriate legal proceedings” against the actor.
On November 17, Akshay had issued the defamation notice through law firm IC Legal, claiming that Rashid has published several “defamatory, libellous and derogatory” videos in his YouTube channel FF News.
In his reply sent through his advocate JP Jayswal on Friday, Rashid claimed the allegations made by Akshay were “false, vexatious and oppressive and is raised with an intent to harass him”.
The reply further claimed that every Indian citizen has the fundamental right to freedom of speech.
It added, “The news reported by Rashid was already in the public domain and he has placed reliance on other news channels as sources.”