Finance Minister Arun Jaitley filed a defamation suit in the Delhi High Court on Monday seeking Rs 10 crore in damages from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders for leading a “false, malicious and defamatory” campaign against him.
In a separate petition, Jaitley also sought action from a city court against Kejriwal and the five AAP leaders for making defamatory statements relating to alleged financial irregularities during his role as Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) president. Jaitley claimed the propaganda against him and his family by Kejriwal and AAP leaders is to counter the December 15 CBI raids on Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar. Reacting to the development, Kejriwal said Jaitley should not threaten by filing cases and said his fight against corruption would continue. He asked Jaitley to cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry set up by the Delhi government.
Kejriwal had earlier claimed that CBI searches were aimed to look for files relating to irregularities in DDCA.
In the petitions, Jaitley has named, besides Kejriwal, AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai as accused and defendants. Accompanied by several ministers, including M Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani and Dharmendra Pradhan, Jaitley approached Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal to file the suit.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Jaitley, urged the court to record the minister’s statement. The court, however, took cognisance of the complaint under Sections 499 (defamation) 500 (punishment), 501 and 502 (printing and sale of defamatory matter) of the IPC and fixed January 5 as the next date of hearing.
Jaitley is expected to record his statement on the next date. The penal provisions carry maximum punishment of simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years with fine. The suit for Rs 10 crore damages would come up for hearing after norming listing.
Jaitley submitted that till 2013, he was the president of DDCA and did not claim even legitimate reimbursement of his expenses, leave aside any pecuniary benefits.
With regard to bogus or excess payment to certain companies in the reconstruction of Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium here, Jaitley asserted, “This is a stadium with modern facilities, built in India for a most economical amount of Rs 114 crore.”
He further claimed that mere renovation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for Commonwealth Games had cost the government Rs 900 crore and the cost for renovating Dhyanchand Stadium was to the tune of Rs 600 crore.
Published 21 December 2015, 20:45 IST