A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Aam Aadmy Party chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal along with five other AAP leaders in connection with a criminal defamation case filed against them by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass granted bail to Kejriwal and AAP leaders Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Kumar Vishwas, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai after they furnished a personal bail bond of Rs. 20,000 each. They have been accused by Jaitley of defaming him in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) controversy.
Jaitley also appeared in court to attend the hearing along with some supporters. The BJP show of strength was led by OP Sharma, who was arrested for thrashing a Left activist outside the same court complex. Mr. Sharma, one of the BJP’s three state legislators in Delhi, has been suspended for two sessions for sexist remarks against a woman leader from AAP.
The court hearing was meant to be begin at 3 pm, but was advanced by an hour upon Mr Kejriwal’s request; he said he needs to get to a cabinet meeting after court.
Jaitley alleges that the AAP leaders made the statements with the intention to deflect attention from a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation against a particular civil servant who was working with Kejriwal and against whom a third party had filed a complaint.
Next hearing will take place on May 19.
The court had summoned them for the alleged offences under Sections 500 (criminal defamation) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
