A Delhi court on Friday issued a non-bailable warrant against Congress MP and former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin for his repeated failure to appear before it in connection with a cheque bounce case.

Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Vikrant Vaid issued the warrant against former captain of the Indian cricket team for March 1 after rejecting his counsel's submission that he was busy in the election campaigning in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

The magistrate, who on the last date of hearing had told Azhar's counsel that his client should attend the proceedings on Saturday, dismissed the application moved by the counsel seeking exemption from personal appearance on behalf of the MP from the Moradabad constituency, who is accused in a cheque bounce case. According to the complaint, Azhar wanted to sell his Mumbai-based property, worth around Rs 4.5 crore, which was jointly owned by him and his estranged wife Sangeeta Bijlani.

The complainant Sanjay Solanki, Delhi-based businessman, approached Azhar to purchase the property and the deal was finalised after which Solanki paid Rs 1.5 crore in advance to Azhar.

But after some time, due to some marital dispute, Azhar refused to sell the property and agreed to pay the money back to Solanki as per the agreement.

Azhar issued a cheque of Rs 1.5 crore to Solanki in 2008 but it was dishonoured by the bank, the complainant said. Solanki approached Azhar again after which the MP issued a fresh cheque to him in 2009.

The cheque was dishonoured again following which Azhar apologized to Solanki and in 2010 he issued another cheque to the businessman which too was dishonored by the bank, Solanki said, adding he then approached a court in New Delhi.