DDCA row: Jaitley blasts Kejriwal for 'false and defamatory' statements in court

Pursuing his complaint, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday appeared in a Delhi court and said Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders have made "false and defamatory" statements and rejected the charge that he had siphoned out money from Delhi's cricket body DDCA for his own benefit.

Recording his statement before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Sanjay Khanagwal in a 70-minute deposition, Jaitley, an eminent lawyer himself, dismissed all the allegations and said he had not received any money from anybody during his tenure as President of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). He accused them of making statements damaging his reputation even after the complaint was filed against them and that their statements against him and his family members lowered his dignity in the eyes of the public at large.

Jaitley charged Kejriwal with making these allegations against him and his family members to deflect attention from CBI probe "against a particular civil servant" who is working with him. He was apparently referring to the CBI raid in the Delhi Secretariat on the office of IAS officer Rajendra Kumar, who is Chief Minister's Principal Secretary.

Jaitley referred to Twitter and Facebook posts of Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai and accused them of making statements that had damaged his reputation even after the defamation complaint was filed by him.

Jaitley said that Kejriwal's statement that he received money when the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium was constructed during his tenure as the DDCA Chief, was false as the Board of Directors had constituted a committee to supervise the work and he was not a member of the supervisory committee.

"Between December 1999 and December 2013, I was the President of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). I discharged my function lawfully and with utmost integrity. During my entire tenure, I have not received directly or indirectly a single rupee from the (DDCA) association on any account whatsoever. I have not even charged any amount towards expenditure. A cricket stadium was built at Ferozshah Kotla during my tenure as President DDCA. The Executive Committee/Board of Directors of the DDCA had at the relevant time authorised a committee to supervise the constructions. Broad decisions came up before the board for approval. I was not a member of the committee charged with the construction/renovation of the stadium," he said in his seven-page deposition.

Amidst tight security, Jaitley arrived in the court premises at 1:56 pm and entered the court room at 2 PM for the proceedings during which no media persons were allowed. The court has now posted the matter for February 3 to record statements of other complainant witnesses in the case. It also recorded the statement of well-known journalist Rajat Sharma, who has appeared as a witness for Jaitley saying he was acquainted with him for over four decades and could vouch for his integrity and character.

Jaitley had on December 21 filed criminal defamation case against Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders for allegedly defaming him and sought their prosecution for offences that entail a punishment of upto two years in jail.

In his statement, the minister said, "However, in my capacity as President DDCA, I used to chair the board meetings where only the important decisions were put up for approval before the Board/Executive Committee.

"The accounts of DDCA were always duly audited and were subsequently all approved by the Annual General Meeting of DDCA. These accounts were submitted before the taxation authorities and the balance sheets along with the annual report were filed with the Registrar of the Companies."