Saif Ali Khan's Wasabi brawl mediation on pause

Call this a dramatic intermission for now. A mediation in the 2012 spat between Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan and South African NRI businessman Iqbal Mir Sharma that took place at Wasabi in the Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, has been postponed this week.
The postponement came after Sharma could not be present in India on the pre-decided date. Both parties will now meet to mediate on September 3. According to public prosecutor Wajid Sheikh, Sharma was in the US for a work visit and hence, was unable to keep his legal date. "He had informed me two days prior that he won't be able to attend the mediation and had asked me to reschedule to last week of August or first week of September," says Sheikh.

Khan's movie Phantom is set for a release at the end of August and therefore, both the parties settled for early September, says Sheikh. Khan's lawyer Girish Kulkarni says the actor was ready to keep his appointment if Sharma had turned up.

Earlier this month, a Mumbai court referred the case for mediation after three years of legal wrangling. In 2012 Sharma had lodged a complaint against Khan and two of his friends alleging that they assaulted him at Wasabi.

According to Sharma, the actor and his friends, which included wife Kareena Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Amrita Arora, Malaika Arora-Khan and others, were all having dinner at a nearby table and creating a loud ruckus in the process. When Sharma objected, Khan reacted with anger. However, Khan has denied this version in the press.