New Delhi: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday denied in the Delhi high court that he gave any specific and categorical instruction to his previous counsel, Ram Jethmalani, to use certain derogatory words against Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.
The day’s proceedings before joint registrar Pankaj Gupta relate to the second defamation case filed by Mr Jaitley following the derogatory words used by Mr Jethmalani, allegedly at Mr Kejriwal’s bidding, during his cross-examination in the first defamation case.
The court imposed Rs 5,000 as cost on Mr Kejriwal for delay in filing response in the second case. This was for the second time that the cost has been imposed on him. On July 26. the court had imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on Mr Kejriwal for the same reason.
The joint registrar asked the chief minister to deposit Rs 5,000 in the ‘Army Welfare Fund Battle Casualties’.
Mr Kejriwal, who opposed the second defamation suit against him, told the joint registrar on July 20 that he had written a letter to Mr Jethmalani “categorically” stating that he had not “instructed” him to use any defamatory words against Mr Jaitley. However, two days later, Mr Jethmalani wrote a letter to Mr Kejriwal stating that he had used the alleged derogatory words under specific instructions from him.
The registrar condoned the delay on behalf of Mr Kejriwal in filing the statement and said the same is “subject to deposit of Rs 5,000 costs”.
The court has fixed the matter for October 12, before which Mr Jaitley was asked to file his response to the CM’s written statement.
