New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday filed a fresh civil defamation suit against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, seeking Rs10 crore in damages. The suit claims lawyer Ram Jethmalani, on behalf of his client Kejriwal, made derogatory remarks against Jaitley in the proceedings of another defamation suit between the two.
The objectionable and defamatory remarks were made during earlier court proceedings and were duly recorded by the court.
This is the second civil defamation case by Jaitley against Kejriwal in the Delhi high court. A total of Rs20 crore is being sought under the two civil cases.
On 17 May, at a round of cross-examination, Jethmalani had referred to Jaitley as a “crook” and “guilty of crimes and crookery”. When questioned by the court, he clarified that he had obtained specific instructions from his client Kejriwal to say so.
Jaitley, in his plea alleged that the remark/statement was “not only false, baseless, malicious and abusive, but also defamatory in nature”.
It was added that the plaintiff had attempted to cause further damage to the reputation of the finance minister by making such remarks in an open court room. Such statements have been made with a mala fide intent to cause further prejudice, damage and loss to the name, reputation and credibility of the plaintiff, the plea said.
Jaitley has also brought another civil defamation case against Kejriwal and some other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) politicians in the Delhi high court for making allegations of financial irregularities that dated back to the time the finance minister was president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) in the 2000-01 to 2012-13 period.
He has sought Rs10 crore in compensation for alleged defamatory remarks made by Kejriwal, Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai against Jaitley and his family. A criminal defamation case on the issue is being heard simultaneously at another forum.