A Delhi court on Tuesday issued summons to Delhi minister Atishi in a defamation case filed by Praveen Shankar Kapoor, the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) media head. The case revolves around Atishi’s claims that the BJP had approached Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders with offers of ₹20-30 crores each to join their party.
However, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Tanya Bamniyal of the Rouse Avenue Courts found no prima facie case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to warrant issuing summons to him.
“Therefore, in view of the above discussion, there exist sufficient grounds to summon accused Atishi Marlena u/s 500 IPC. Accordingly, issue summons to accused Ms. Atishi Marlena for offence u/s 500 IPC on filing of PF and RC as per rules,” the Court ordered.
Kapoor filed the criminal defamation case against Kejriwal and Atishi, claiming that AAP leaders repeatedly alleged that BJP was trying to poach AAP MLAs whenever the Enforcement Directorate (ED) approached them in connection with any case. He argued that these allegations were false and that AAP had provided no evidence to support their claims.
Kapoor asserted that these allegations were an attempt by AAP to divert attention from the Delhi excise policy case. In his plea, he referenced a January 27 tweet by Kejriwal, which alleged that BJP had contacted seven AAP MLAs with offers of ₹25 crores each to bring down the Delhi government, and an April 2 press conference held by Atishi.
Kapoor also noted that Atishi made similar allegations to deflect attention when her name surfaced in the excise policy case.
