Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP members on Thursday reached Patiala House court on Thursday in connection with the defamation suit filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for issuing alleged false and defamatory statements against him and his family for irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) during his tenure as its President.
Patiala House court granted bail to CM Arvind Kejriwal and 5 other AAP leaders, with a bond of 20,000 and same amount of surety. The court fixed May 19 date for hearing on argument on framing of charges against Arvind Kejriwal and five AAP leaders.
Kejriwal accompanied by his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) colleagues Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai before Chief metropolitan magistrate Sumit Dass.
The court had summoned them for the alleged offences under Sections 500 (criminal defamation) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Union minister had alleged that Kejriwal and the five AAP leaders had made defamatory statements against him and his family. He had said Kejriwal’s statement that he received money when the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium was constructed during his tenure as the in the Delhi and District Cricket Association DDCA chief was false.
The FM had filed the defamation case in December last year, after Kejriwal and other members of AAP held a press conference and levelled the alleged charges that Jaitley had profited from his alleged relationship with a firm called 21st Century Media Private Limited, a sports management firm.
When he deposed before the court in January, the Union minister said he had been defamed by on their social media platform wherein they alleged that during his tenure as head of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), there were financial bunglings in the cricket body.
“Kejriwal has falsely stated that money was siphoned off and I was the beneficiary,” Mr Jaitley told the court today, and also said, “During my tenure as DDCA president, I have not received any money from anybody.”
Mr Jaitley, who is a well-known lawyer, spoke in court himself as he recorded his statement.
This is the third such case against Kejriwal and second by a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party party. The CM is also fighting a defamation case filed against him by Nitin Gadkari and another by advocate Amit Sibal, son of Kapil Sibal, the ex-minister of communications and information technology.