Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday told a city court that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders levelled false allegations against him to distract public attention from a case against a state government official.
“The statements are made by the accused no 1 to 6 (Kejriwal and five others) with a malicious intention to lower my reputation... They have been made with the intention to deflect attention from a CBI investigation against a particular public servant who was working for accused no. 1 in relation to a complaint filed by a third party,” Jaitley told a city court.
The court was recording Jaitley’s pre-summoning evidence in a criminal defamation case he had filed against Kejriwal and six others. Two witnesses deposed on Tuesday – Arun Jaitley and India TV owner and editor Rajat Sharma.
The court has fixed February 3 to examine more witnesses.
The court of chief metropolitan magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal was made out of bounds for all except Jaitley and his battery of lawyers headed by former additional solicitor general Sidharth Luthra.
The FM told the court he had been defamed by the accuseds’ social media wherein they alleged that during his tenure as head of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), there were financial bunglings in the cricket body. “The false imputations made by the accused....that money has been siphoned out in the construction of a stadium and the innuendo that I am a beneficiary of the same is per se false and defamatory,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The FM told the court he had been defamed by the accuseds’ social media wherein they alleged that during his tenure as head of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), there were financial bunglings in the cricket body. “The false imputations made by the accused....that money has been siphoned out in the construction of a stadium and the innuendo that I am a beneficiary of the same is per se false and defamatory,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Jaitley said after Kejriwal levelled “baseless” allegations against him, the news further appeared on television and in the papers. “A very large number of persons including friends, political colleagues, journalists... who had read/watched these news items... developed serious doubts and contacted me to seek clarifications.”