NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders were on Wednesday summoned by a city court as accused in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The court directed them to appear before it on April 7, noting that their allegations were “derogatory and amounted to slander and libel”.
The court also summoned Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Kumar Vishwas, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai. “The allegations are not only insulting but jeeringly taunting and provocative. I have no hesitation to hold that the allegations levelled by the respondents are derogatory in nature and amount to slander and libel,” Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass said.
The order came on Jaitley’s criminal defamation complaint in which he had said that Kejriwal and the five other AAP leaders had allegedly defamed him in the Delhi District Cricket Association controversy. In its 30-page order, the court noted that Jaitley, through the testimony of witnesses, had proved on record that while he was president of DDCA, “the accounts were duly audited/approved by AGM” and submitted to authorities.
Jaitley had alleged that Kejriwal and others had made statements that he and his family had made pecuniary gains by associating with M/s 21st Century Media Pvt Ltd, a sports management firm.