Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday filed a fresh civil defamation suit of ₹10 crore against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The fresh suit is against Mr. Jaitley being allegedly abused by Mr. Kejriwal's counsel Ram Jethmalani in an open court during the proceedings last week of another defamation suit filed by the Minister against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and five other party leaders.
Mr. Jethmalani, during the cross-examination of the Minister on May 15 and May 17 in the Delhi High Court, used certain words, which were objected to by Mr. Jaitley.
On May 17, Mr. Jaitley and Mr. Jethmalani clashed in the court, with the Minister taking strong objection to the word “crook” used during cross examination in the earlier defamation case.
"I intend to show that this man [Jaitley] is a crook," Mr. Jethmalani said, prompting strong objection from the Minister.
Mr. Jaitley, who was being cross-examined, furiously asked Mr. Jethmalani whether the word “crook” used by him was in his personal capacity or as per the instruction of Mr. Kejriwal.
To which, Mr. Jethmalani had said that it was used by him on instructions from his client (Kejriwal).
Mr. Jaitley then threatened to seek higher damages.
“I will aggravate the charges against the defendants [Kejriwal]... There is a limit to personal malice,” he had said after Mr. Jethmalani said he wanted to prove his point that the Union Minister was a “crook.”
Mr. Jaitley's counsel had objected to Mr. Jethmalani referring to the Minister as being “guilty of crime and crookery.”
Mr. Jaitley was being cross-examined by Mr. Jethmalani in connection with the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) defamation case filed by the Minister.
Advocate Manik Dogra, who is representing Mr. Jaitley, said they had filed the fresh civil defamation suit against Mr. Kejriwal as he (the Chief Minister), through his counsel, had used abusive language in the open court, which was also recorded in the order sheet. This warrants filing of a separate defamation suit.
In the earlier defamation suit, Mr. Jaitley had sought ₹10 crore in damages from Mr. Kejriwal and AAP leaders Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai for accusing him of financial irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), of which he was president from 2000 to 2013.
Mr. Jaitley had denied all the allegations.
Besides the civil defamation suit, Jaitley had also filed a separate criminal defamation case in the trial court against the AAP leaders.
