Arun Jaitley appears in court, submits proof against Delhi CM

New Delhi: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley appeared before the Delhi high court on Tuesday and tendered evidence in support of his civil defamation suit against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders.

Mr Jaitley, who has already denied all allegations of financial bungling in Delhi and at the District Cricket Association (DDCA), had filed the suit seeking Rs 10 crore as damage against the backdrop of attacks on him by Mr Kejriwal and other AAP leaders over the alleged irregularities and financial bungling in the cricket body of which he was the president for about 13 years till 2013.

The court fixed the matter for further hearing on March 6 next year when Mr Jaitley will be cross-examined by the counsel for Mr Kejriwal and other AAP leaders.

Advocate Rishikesh, appearing for the chief minister, sought a long date to cross-examine Mr Jaitley as Mr Kejriwal has engaged senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who will not be available for two months.

Mr Jaitley’s counsel opposed the contention and said that Mr Kejriwal and the five AAP leaders — Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, and Deepak Bajpai — were “unnecessarily delaying the matter.”

The minister appeared to record his evidence after the high court on July 12 had framed issues against Mr Kejriwal and others in the matter.

The issues were framed against them after Mr Kejriwal’s counsel had denied the allegations and submitted that whatever was said against the minister was in public domain and he has not said anything on his own.