NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia today tendered an apology to senior advocate Amit Sibal, son of former union minister Kapil Sibal, in a criminal defamation case filed by him.
Kejriwal and Sisodia apologised for making "unfounded allegations" against Sibal in a letter which was submitted before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal.
Sibal and the AAP leaders also filed a joint application in the court seeking withdrawal of the case filed in 2013.
The court then posted the matter for further hearing on April 6 when it will consider the joint application for disposing off the case amicably in view of the written apology.
Besides Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, complainant Amit Sibal had also named former AAP members Prashant Bhushan and Shazia Ilmi as accused in the case.
The lower court on September 20, 2014, had put all the four accused on trial for the charge under section 500 (defamation) of the IPC.
Sibal forgives Kejriwal
The senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday said he has forgiven Kejriwal after the latter tendered an apology.
Talking to reporters here, Sibal said everything is forgotten now after Kejriwal and Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accepted that they had levelled baseless allegations against him.
"Kejriwal Ji and Sisodia ji have accepted that the allegations they had put on me and my son in a press conference few years ago were baseless. They have apologised for the same today. He (Kejriwal) has apologised for what he did. Everything is forgotten now. We will move ahead," Sibal said.
Earlier in the day, Kejriwal sought an apology from Sibal.
Amit Sibal, a lawyer, and son of Kapil Sibal, had filed a defamation suit against Kejriwal for alleging that Kapil Sibal had a conflict in seeking to revise a tax demand on telecom major Vodafone.
Kejriwal had tendered a similar apology to former Akali Dal minister Bikram Majithia in another defamation, shocking and angering the Aam Aadmi Party's Punjab unit.
( With inputs from ANI)