Describing the criminal case filed against Outlook magazine, its scribes and representatives of its management as "abuse of legal process," Justice B Siva Sankara Rao of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday quashed the criminal case filed by IPS officer Akun Sabharwal.

The FIR and the investigation by the Hyderabad central crime station began after a complaint filed by Akun who contended that he felt aggrieved by an alleged defamatory article written against his wife and IAS officer Smitha Sabharwal, and a caricature that appeared in the magazine. He contended that it amounted to outraging her modesty.