New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday framed notices against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other Aam Aadmi Party leaders in a defamation case filed by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.
Apart from Kejriwal, notices have been framed against AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai.
In December 2015, Jaitley had filed a criminal complaint for defamation alleging that Kejriwal and the remaining five AAP leaders had made defaming statements against him regarding his tenure as the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) president from December 1999 to December 2013.
“The criminal complaint for defamation has been filed against the six accused because they had given defamatory statements against Arun Jaitley on Twitter, Facebook and in the media,” said Jaitley’s counsel Sidharth Luthra. He added that the accused have been delaying the proceedings of the matter by filing various frivolous applications, out of which some have been dismissed in the high court.
“Again on Saturday, frivolous objections were taken to delay the case, which was dismissed by the court and the notices were framed against the accused,” said Luthra.
{{/usCountry}}“Again on Saturday, frivolous objections were taken to delay the case, which was dismissed by the court and the notices were framed against the accused,” said Luthra.
{{/usCountry}}Besides this case, Jaitley has also filed a civil defamation suit before the Delhi high court seeking Rs 10 crore in damages from Kejriwal and the five for issuing allegedly false and defamatory statements against him and his family in connection with alleged irregularities in DDCA when he was its president.
Kejriwal and the other alleged accused have pleaded not guilty. The trial in the case will now commence on May 20.
EOM