Hearing in Jaitley defamation case adjourned till March 9

A Delhi Court on Tuesday fixed March 9 for hearing a criminal defamation case filed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders.

The court said that it would decide on March 9 whether the accused could be summoned to appear in person.

Earlier on February 15, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal had fixed February 23 for delivering the order on the issue.

Jaitley had on January 5 told the court that Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders had given "false" and "defamatory" statements against him, harming his reputation. He had rejected the charge that he had siphoned out money from the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) for his benefit.

During recording of his statement, Jaitley had claimed that Kejriwal and AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai had given statements even after the complaint was filed against them which had damaged his reputation.

The Finance Minister had said that their statements against him and his family members lowered his dignity in the eyes of the public at large.

Jaitley had said Kejriwal's statement that he received money when the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium was constructed during his tenure as the DDCA chief, was false as the Board of Directors had constituted a committee to supervise the work and he was not a member of this supervisory committee.

Jaitley, who headed the DDCA for around 13 years till 2013, has been accused of corruption by the Aam Aadmi Party.