Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday filed a civil defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders for issuing allegedly false and defamatory statements against him and his family members. Court took cognizance of Jaitley’s complaint against and fixed the next date of the hearing on January 5.
Jaitley also made a statement in Lok Sabha over the issue, rubbishing the ‘baseless and wrong’ charges against him. He said that while DDCA built a world-class stadium in Rs 114 crores, when UPA was in power Rs 900 crore and Rs 600 crore were spent on renovations of JLN and National stadiums. He made the statement after opposition created ruckus in the both houses on the issue.
BJP MP Kirti Azad, who on Sunday released a CD allegedly exposing the corruption in DDCA, said that the Congress MPs should demand a time-bound probe in the matter instead of creating uproar.
Earlier, Jaitley sought Rs 10 crore as damages from Kejriwal and other AAP leaders — Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee — for their alleged defamatory remarks in his defamation suit.
Advocate Manik Dogra said the civil suit on behalf of Jaitley would come up in the normal course of listing.
Jaitley’s action comes in the backdrop of attacks on him by Kejriwal and other AAP leaders over alleged irregularities and financial bunglings in Delhi’s cricket body, Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), of which he was the president for about 13 years till 2013.
The Union minister had said on Sunday that he would also filed a criminal defamation case against Kejriwal and other five AAP leaders at Patiala House court. He chose not to give any legal notice to Kejriwal and other AAP leaders asking them to apologise or face defamation cases. Instead, the case was straightaway filed in the court.