Defamation Case: Delhi court grants bail to Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia

In a big relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia, a city court on Tuesday granted them bail in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijender Gupta.

They were granted relief by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 and one surety of like amount.

Vijender Gupta, , who is the leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, had filed a defamation case against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia for ‘maligning’ his image after they accused him of being part of an alleged "conspiracy" to kill the Delhi chief minister.

Gupta claimed in the complaint that due to widespread circulation of tweets and news reports on the statement of the two AAP leaders, his reputation was harmed for which they have not expressed any remorse or apologised.

During the Lok Sabha polls, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said in an interview to a Punjabi channel that the BJP wanted to get him killed by his own Personal Security Officer (PSO) in the manner in which Indira Gandhi was killed.

Countering the charge, Vijender Gupta had tweeted, "Before the slapgate on May 4 @ArvindKejriwal asked the liaison officer to lift the security cover around his vehicle. The chief minister's instruction is registered in the roznamcha (police diary). The AAP could not receive electoral gain out of it because I exposed this, so out of frustration Kejriwal is saying that his PSO reports to the BJP."

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia shot back and accused Vijender Gupta of being a part of the conspiracy to kill Arvind Kejriwal.

"BJP is conspiring to get the CM killed. This tweet by @Gupta_vijender has proved that the BJP is getting the daily security plan of the CM and it is hatching a conspiracy to kill the CM on this basis. Vijender Gupta is also a part of this conspiracy," Manish Sisodia said quoting Vijender Gupta's tweet.