Kejriwal, AAP leaders get bail in Jaitley defamation case

A court here on Thursday granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders in a criminal defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the wake of the DDCA controversy.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass granted the bail to Kejriwal as well as Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee after they appeared in the court following last month's summons.

The court asked them to furnish a personal bond of Rs.20,000 and a surety of like amount each. Gopal Mohan stood surety for Kejriwal.

Jaitley, who filed the complaint against Kejriwal and the others, was present in the court.

Jaitley told the court on January 5 that they had given "false and defamatory" statements against him in the case involving the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), thereby harming his reputation.

He said the AAP leaders made the statements with a view to deflect attention from a CBI probe against a civil servant working with Kejriwal.

He urged the court to initiate proceedings against Kejriwal and the others on charge of defaming him.

The AAP leaders had alleged corruption in the DDCA, which Jaitley headed for 13 years until 2013. Jaitley has denied the allegations.