DDCA controversy: Court dismisses Kejriwal's plea

NEW DELHI: A city court today dismissed the plea of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders seeking to be heard on point of framing of notice in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against them in regard to the DDCA controversy.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass directed all the accused, including Ashutosh, Kumar Vishwas, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chaddha and Deepak Bajpai, to appear before the court on March 25 when it is likely to pronounce the order on framing of notice against them.

"I am of the considered opinion that no ground is made out for hearing accused persons at stage of framing of notice ... The application is bereft of any merit, mala fide and filed solely with a view to stall the trial. Accordingly, the application moved by the accused persons stands dismissed," the court said.

The accused had on October 24 last year moved the court seeking a chance to be heard before it decided on whether they would be put on trial in the criminal defamation complaint.

Jaitley's counsel had urged the court to frame the notice/charge against the accused persons, claiming there was no such provision in law.

Jaitley had filed the criminal defamation complaint alleging that the accused had defamed him in a controversy regarding Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) when he headed it for over a decade.

A civil defamation suit has also been filed by Jaitley before the Delhi High Court in the matter seeking Rs 10 crore as damages.