We are standing by our leader, says BJP

Outside the Patiala House court complex, many BJP leaders and workers such as Delhi party chief Satish Upadhyaya and legislator Ramesh Bidhuri had gathered in solidarity. BJP spokesperson Mamta Kala said: “This is not a show of strength. We are standing by our leader against whom the AAP leadership has made blatantly false statements only to divert attention from the CBI case against the CM’s officer.”

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said before the magistrate that Mr Kejriwal’s statement that he had got money when the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium was built during his tenure as 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. Besides recording Mr Jaitley’s statement, the court also recorded the testimony of journalist Rajat Sharma, who the finance minister had listed as one of his witnesses. During the recording of his statement, Mr Jaitley referred to Twitter and Facebook posts of the six persons and said their statements had damaged his reputation even after he had filed the defamation complaint.

He alleged that these AAP leaders made false and defamatory statements against him and his family members, that had lowered his dignity in the eyes of the public at large. “Their acts attracted adverse public comments and made my reputation discriminatory in the public at large,” Mr Jaitley said, as the recording of his statement ended on Tuesday.

He said statements had been made to deflect attention away from the CBI investigation “against a particular person” working with the Delhi CM. The court has posted the matter for February 3 to record statements by the other complainant witnesses in the case. On December 21, Mr Jaitley had filed the criminal defamation case against Mr Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders for allegedly defaming him and sought their prosecution for offences that entail a punishment of up to two years in jail. The complaint was filed for alleged offences under sections 499 (defamation), 500 (punishment for defamation), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 502 (sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter), 34 (common intention) and 35 (when such an act is criminal by reason of its being done with a criminal knowledge or intention) of the IPC.