HC notice to Vijender Gupta on Kejriwal's plea

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the response of the state of National Capital Territory (NCT) and leader of opposition Vijender Gupta on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea to quash summons in defamation complaint against him by the BJP leader.

Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri issued a notice to the state of NCT and Gupta seeking their stand on Kejriwal's plea by November 20, the next date of hearing.

While issuing a notice in the matter, the court said it prima facie appears that trial would be required to decide if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief's re-tweet of deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia's tweet was defamatory.

Kejriwal, represented by senior advocate Vikas Pahwa and advocate Arunadhri Iyer, has claimed that he has not named Gupta in his tweet or re-tweet.

Gupta, in his complaint, had accused Kejriwal and Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia of "maligning" his image by allegedly accusing him on Twitter of being part of an alleged "conspiracy" to kill the AAP chief.