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Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, who has been accused by an Indian woman of marrying and dumping her without a formal divorce, has approached a criminal lawyer who had fought a case for former Indian all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar.
Shoaib has approached 60-year-old New Delhi-based lawyer Ramesh Gupta to fight his case.
Gupta, who has a chamber in New Delhi's Patiala House court complex, is a former chairman of the Bar Council of Delhi. Apart from being Prabhakar's lawyer, he has also appeared as the defence lawyer in high-profile cases like the BMW hit-and-run case and the Rahul Mahajan drug overdose case.
"I defended Prabhakar's case against his wife (Sandhya), which ultimately reached a compromise stage" The Nation quoted Gupta, as saying.
"I received a phone call from Shoaib Malik's brother-in-law (Imran Zafar) on Saturday and he is reaching here (in New Delhi) in the next 48 hours. The case will then be discussed," he added.
Gupta further said that at the moment he is not in a position to comment on the case.
"At this stage, when both parties (Ayesha Siddiqi and Shoaib Malik) are issuing contrasting statements, nothing can be said, but a compromise formula can always be worked out.
The Siddiqis claim that Malik married their daughter Ayesha in 2002, but has not divorced her till date.
The Hyderabad-based family had also produced pictures of Shoaib-Ayesha's nikahnama (marriage certificate) that states that their marriage was solemnised on June 3, 2002.
Malik, on the other hand, has denied being married to Ayesha. He, however, admitted to talking to a girl named Ayesha over the telephone, but said he has never seen or met the girl.
"Even if they did so, it is not a legal binding on my client's part. I have consulted a few Muslim priests and obtained documents from them which also substantiate our claims of the marriage being illegal," Gupta said.