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Jabalpur, Jun 17 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday lifted the interim stay on the arrest warrant issued against Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew, in a defamation case.

A single bench of Justice Pramod Kumar Agarwal dismissed Abhishek Banerjee's petition and lifted the stay, granted in November 2025, on the execution of the arrest warrant issued by a special Bhopal court.

The decision is likely to increase legal troubles for the Trinamool Congress general secretary, who is already facing an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate on corruption charges.

Akash, son of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, had filed a defamation case against Abhishek Banerjee in the MP-MLA court in Bhopal in 2021.

The defamation suit alleged Abhishek Banerjee had called Akash Vijayvargiya, a former MLA from Indore, a "goon" while addressing a rally in Kolkata in November 2020.

The MP-MLA court had issued an arrest warrant against Abhishek Banerjee, following which he approached the HC.

In his petition before the HC, the Trinamool Congress leader argued he is a Member of Parliament and is unlikely to abscond. Hearing the petition, a single bench stayed the execution of the arrest warrant on November 12, 2025.

No one appeared on behalf of the petitioner during the hearing on Wednesday.

Taking serious note of the absence, the single bench stated in its order that it appears the petitioner has lost interest in pursuing the plea.

Justice Agarwal lifted the stay on the arrest warrant, dismissed the petition, and directed that a copy of the order be sent to the Bhopal court. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)