BJP leaders seek relief from summons in defamation case

NEW DELHI: A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of a recent order passed by a city court that had summoned four BJP leaders including its Delhi unit president Adesh Gupta in a criminal defamation case filed against them by Delhi Jal Board and VC Raghav Chadha.

Along with Gupta, Badarpur MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, leader of Opposition in Delhi Legislative Assembly, Vijender Gupta, MLA from Rohini, and Harish Khurana, spokesperson and in-charge of BJP, Delhi Media Relations, were also summoned.

The petition, filed through advocates Neeraj and Satya Ranjan Swain, stated that being the Leader of the Opposition, he has been at the forefront of exposing irregularities in the working of the Delhi government which, essentially, is the job of an opposition in a democracy.

In January, the BJP leaders had held a press conference and accused Chadha and DJB of committing a scam of Rs 26,000 crore and referred to DJB as ‘Dalali Jal Board’. On this, the AAP leader and DJB vice chairperson Raghav Chadha filed a complaint before the Rouse Avenue Court in March. Later, the court on November 18 issued summons to the BJP leaders.