This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

Jaitley Sues Kejriwal For Defamation Over Graft Allegations

Jaitley Sues Kejriwal For Defamation Over Graft Allegations

NEW DELHI -- Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has sued Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for Rs10 crores and filed a criminal defamation suit against the Aam Aadmi Party chief for levelling allegations of graft within Delhi's cricket body, when he was running it.

With top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party by his side on Monday afternoon, Jaitely filed his criminal defamation suit at Patiala House against Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders - Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee -who have accused him of corruption.

While hundreds of BJP workers gathered at the courthouse to support Jaitley, AAP members were conspicuously absent from the scene.

Shortly after midnight, however, Kejriwal tweeted that he would call a special session of the Delhi Assembly to discuss the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) scam on Tuesday, and set up an enquiry headed by senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam.

Jaitley, who headed the DDCA for over a decade until 2013, has denied any wrongdoing, and accused AAP leaders of tarnishing his image and unnecessarily dragging his family members into the controversy.

On Sunday, Ashutosh called Jaitley the "Kalmadi of BJP."

Mr Jaitley don't threaten us with defamation.Answer the questions we had asked? You will take us to court, we will take u to people's court.

— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) December 20, 2015

Let me repeat Mr Jaitley - you are the KALMADI of BJP !!!

— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) December 20, 2015

Speaking in the Lok Sabha today, Jaitley dismissed the allegations against him as baseless, but Kirti Azad, a lawmaker from his own party, called for an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

In a press conference on Sunday, Azad said that contracts worth crores were given by the DDCA to companies which didn't exist.

DDCA Treasurer Ravindra Manchanda admitted to financial irregularities within the body, but after Jaitley left.

"We found that the money has been transferred from one of the banks to the different companies and that was without any authorisation," said Manchanda, NDTV reported. "After Arun Jaitely left, the president of DDCA sent Rs. 155 crore without any authorisation."

Contact HuffPost India

Also on HuffPost:

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.