Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court Additional CMM Dharmender Singh on Thursday issued summons to Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta and other BJP leaders on a criminal defamation complaint filed by the Delhi Jal Board along with Raghav Chadha through Advocate Prashant Manchanda.
Summons have been issued against Adesh Gupta (BJP Delhi President), Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (BJP MLA from Badarpur), Vijendra Gupta (BJP MLA from Rohini) and Harish Khurana (BJP Delhi Media Relations) for the offence of defamation of the Delhi Jal Board as an institution as well as its Vice-Chairman Raghav Chadha. They have been summoned to be in court on November 27.
Allegations have been made against the BJP leaders of deriding the institution by repeatedly referring to it as “Dalali Jal Board” and levelling false and frivolous allegations against Raghav Chadha. Chadha stated in his complaint that accused persons have been actively indulging in publishing and sharing false and defamatory statements/allegations alleging a scam of Rs 26,000 crore allegedly committed within the institution.
Chadha also stated that Adesh Gupta along with other BJP leaders have caused massive defamation to intentionally hinder and obstruct him in discharge of his official obligations through levelling false and malicious and defamatory allegations against the Board, the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, and himself.
Accepting the submissions advanced by Advocate Prashant Manchanda, Special Counsel appointed by the Delhi Jal Board, that the Board is a juridical person bearing its own separate identity, the Court vide its order dated 18.11.2021 held that the Board has locus to file the present complaint as a juridical person as it is an identifiable body.
Chadha also submitted in his deposition that his efficient sense of governance and administration accrued him positive reputation which got tarnished by the baseless allegations widely peddled by the accused. After taking into account the statements made by the witnesses and complainants, the Court of ACMM vide its detailed order dated 18.11.2021 stated that “in the present case there are sufficient grounds for proceedings against respondents”.
The order further stated,
“In view of allegations made in complaint, testimonies of CW1 to CW4 and material brought on record by them this court is prima facie satisfied that there are sufficient grounds for summoning of all respondents as accused qua offence punishable u/s 500 r/w Sec.34 IPC.”
Also Read: SAT directs Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd, Sahara India to deposit Rs 2000 crore with SEBI
Notably, these leaders from BJP have been operating in tandem with a mala fide motive to wreak vested political interests and thus in a systematically engineered conspiracy, they have unabatedly defamed, vilified, demeaned and derided the Delhi Jal Board and its Vice-Chariman Raghav Chadha to malign their reputation against all the quarters
It was also contended by the counsel for complainants that there was a well-knit conspiracy to cause massive destruction to the otherwise clean image of the Delhi Jal Board with an intention to obfuscate the efficient administration and functioning of the incumbent government of NCT of Delhi.
Read order below
Delhi-Jal-Board-Ors.-Versus-Adesh-Gupta-Anr.-Summoning-Order_021710