Major setback to Arvind Kejriwal, court rejects plea to dismiss defamation case filed by Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: In an another embarrassment to Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal, a Delhi court on Wednesday rejected the plea to dismiss the defamation case filed against him and other party leaders by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. 

Earlier, Kejriwal filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on one of the two defamation cases filed against him by Jaitley.

The High Court has in response issued a notice to Jaitley and sought his response on the matter.

The High Court on July 12 framed issues against Kejriwal and other AAP leaders in a civil defamation suit filed by Jaitley for notwithstanding their claim that they had not made any defamatory statements against him in the the DDCA case.

Jaitley, who has denied all allegations of financial bungling, had filed the suit seeking Rs. 10 crore damages against the backdrop of attacks on him by Kejriwal and other AAP leaders over alleged irregularities and financial bungling in the DDCA of which he was the president for about 13 years till 2013.

In his complaint, Jaitley had accused the AAP leaders of making 'false and defamatory' statements on him in the DDCA scam, thereby harming his reputation.

The union minister said the AAP leaders made the statements to deflect public attention from a Central Bureau of Investigation probe against a civil servant working with Kejriwal.

Last year, cricketer-turned-politician and suspended BJP member of Parliament Kirti Azad had claimed that Jaitley had amassed wealth disproportionate to his income while he served as the president of DDCA during the UPA regime.