Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday suffered a setback when the Delhi high court dismissed his plea to stay a trial court proceedings in a criminal defamation case against him and other AAP leaders filed by finance minister Arun Jaitley saying, “it is devoid of merit”. “The request of the petitioner to adjourn the court proceedings before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) is rejected, being devoid of merit and the same is culminated into dismissal of the present petition,” Justice P S Teji said. Jaitley had filed a criminal defamation complaint alleging Kejriwal and five AAP leaders--Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai--had defamed him in the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) controversy. On April 7, the trial court had granted bail to Kejriwal and others in the case after they had appeared before it. Jaitley had on December 21, 2015, filed the criminal defamation case against the AAP leaders and sought their prosecution for offences that entail a punishment of up to two years in jail.

Source: Hindustan Times October 19, 2016 12:00 UTC