New Delhi: The next hearing of the criminal defamation filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and 5 other Aam Aadmi Party leaders will be held on January 5, 2016. During the next hearing, the court will take up the evidence presented by Jaitley.
Jaitley's counsel has said that AAP has knowingly made malicious allegations against him and his family. "The present complaint has been filed in personal capacity. On perusing the material on record, I take cognizance of the offences. Matter be now put up for complainant evidence on January 5," Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal said. If the charges are proved, the accused face up to 2 years imprisonment.
Earlier in the day, Jaitley also filed a Rs 10 crore civil defamation suit against Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders in the Delhi High Court.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, who appeared for Jaitley, made a strong objection of AAP leaders Ashutosh and Sanjay Singh's comments where they compared the Finance Minister to Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi. Kalmadi is facing corruption allegations in the 2010 Commonwealth Games case.
Luthra also clarified that Jaitley did not take money from DDCA during his tenure as the president. "Mr. Jaitley has not drawn a single penny from the DDCA. Completely baseless and defamatory allegations have been levelled against him and his family members," he said.
During the over 30-minute long hearing, Jaitley and various other top leaders of BJP, including Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, J P Nadda, Smriti Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore were present in the court.
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