A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders in a criminal defamation case filed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in connection with alleged corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass granted bail to Mr. Kejriwal on a personal bond of Rs. 20,000 with one surety of a like amount furnished by each accused.
Earlier, they appeared before the court on a summons issued last month. Ashutosh, Kumar Vishwas, Raghav Chadha, Deepak Bajpai and Sanjay Singh are the other AAP leaders who were granted bail by the court on the same conditions.
The court had summoned them for Thursday after recording the statements of Mr. Jaitley and his other witnesses in support of the allegation of defamation.
“The allegations are not only insulting but jeeringly taunting and provocative. I have no hesitation to hold that the allegations levelled by the respondents [Mr. Kejriwal and five others] are derogatory in nature and amount to slander and libel,’’ Justice Dass had in his summoning order.
Alluding to the statements and the Facebook and Twitter posts by the accused, the judge had said: “The statements have exposed the complainant [Mr. Jaitley] to ridicule, hatred and contempt among the right-thinking members of society and lowered his reputation.”
The court has now fixed the matter for May 19 for further arguments in the case.
The AAP leaders had alleged financial irregularities in the Delhi cricket board (DDCA), during the period when it was headed by Mr. Jaitley.
Mounting a strong defence of his conduct as the president of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), Mr. Jaitley slapped a criminal defamation case against Mr. Kejriwal and five others at Delhi’s Patiala House court.
The court on February 4 concluded the recording of pre-summoning evidence.
On March 9, the court issued summons to the AAP leaders after recording the statements Mr. Jaitley and his other witnesses in support of the allegation of defamation.