Delhi Court concludes pre-summoning evidence in Jaitley's defamation complaint

New Delhi

On December 21, 2015, Mr Jaitley had filed a criminal defamation case against Mr Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders for allegedly defaming him.

The Union Minister alleged that Mr Kejriwal and others have made defamatory statements that he and his family members have made pecuniary gains by associating with M/s 21st Century Media Pvt Ltd, which is a sports management company.

Mr Jaitley said he was shocked to see the reports in media about the allegations made by Mr Kejriwal and other AAP leaders that money was siphoned off during his tenure as DDCA president.

The Minister had deposed in the case and accused the latter of making statements, damaging his reputation, even after the complaint was filed against them and that their statements against him and his family members lowered his dignity in the eyes of the public at large.

Mr Jaitley had referred to social networking sites Twitter and Facebook posts of Mr Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai and accused them of making statements that they had damaged his reputation, even after a defamation complaint was filed by him.

The Court had recorded the statement of three witness lawyers- Ved Prakash Sharma, treasurer of Delhi District and Cricket Association (DDCA), Ravinder Manchanda and Registrar of Companies' (RoC) deputy registrar Rajneesh Kumar Singh.

The court had earlier also recorded the statement of senior journalist Rajat Sharma, who has appeared as a witness for Mr Jaitley, saying he was acquainted with him for over four decades and could vouch for his integrity and character.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal today granted exemption from personal appearance of Mr Jaitley as he was busy in a meeting in Bangalore.

After concluding the recording of evidence of the complainant witnesses, the court adjourned the matter for February 15, for arguments on the point of summoning Mr Kejriwal and five others in the case.