DDCA defamation suit: Jaitley grilled for second day

NEW DELHI:

Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley was grilled for the second day today by jurist Ram Jethmalani in the Delhi High Court in connection with a defamation suit the senior BJP leader has filed against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders.

Jaitley's cross-examination by Jethmalani, who is representing Kejriwal, remained inconclusive and will continue on May 15 and 17. During the proceedings which lasted nearly two hours in a packed court room of Joint Registrar Amit Kumar, a variety of questions including allegations made against him by veteran cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi were put to the

Finance

Minister. Jaitley refuted the allegations of financial bungling in DDCA, saying "a letter of Mr Bedi was written in 2015 and I had left the post of President in DDCA in 2013."

"I strongly deny the contents of this letter in so far it pertains to me... To the best of my knowledge, the contents of the letter are untrue in so far as it relates to my tenure in DDCA," Jaitley said after going through the letter which was shown to him. During the cross-examination which was full of drama, lawyers of both sides opposed various questions and answers and Jaitley's counsel - senior advocates Rajiv Nayar, Sandeep Sethi and Pratibha M Singh - termed some of them "scandalous".

The Finance Minister, who was put several controversial questions by Jethmalani, maintained calm and said "Mr Kejriwal has committed a serious act of libel through his malicious falsehood. Alleging that my wife and daughter are linked to fake companies was not only false but taking the public discourse to a very low level." Jaitley has filed a Rs 10 crore civil defamation suit in the High Court against Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders - Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai - for accusing him of financial irregularities in Delhi and

District Cricket Association

(DDCA) of which he was the president for about 13 years till 2013.

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