Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal went on trial yesterday in a criminal defamation case filed against him by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Kejriwal’s fledgling anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party has been at loggerheads with Premier Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Kejriwal and five leaders of his party - Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai - had accused Jaitley, Modi’s key ally, of financial irregularities when the latter was head of Delhi’s Cricket Association between 2000-2012.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass decided to proceed with the trial after Kejriwal and others pleaded not guilty.
“Today the court has framed notices and directed that the trial will proceed on 20 May, 2017,” Jaitley’s lawyer Siddharth Luthra told reporters.
In his suit against Kejriwal, Jaitley rejected charges that he or his family profited from his tenure at the DDCA and said the false accusations damaged his reputation.
Bajpai could not appear before the court and sought exemption from personal appearance, which was allowed.
However, the other five were present at the hearing. The court also granted exemption to Jaitley.
During the hearing, there were some heated words exchanged between lawyers which disrupted the proceedings for a while.
The hearing resumed after the court asked those not associated with the case to leave the room.
Some of the defence lawyers sought discharge of the accused citing the absence of Jaitley at “such an important stage” and said that notice should not be framed in absence of the complainant.
Kejriwal’s lawyer said, “Let not a message go out of this court that this is luxury litigation by the complainant and, therefore, it is going like a fast-track proceeding.






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