Didn't Ask Ram Jethmalani To Call Arun Jaitley 'Crook' Says Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has denied that he authorised the use of the word "crook" by his lawyer Ram Jethmalani during the cross-examination of Arun Jaitley during a hearing of the defamation case filed by the Union Minister a few months ago. Mr Jaitley had filed a second defamation case and sought another 10 crore as damages after the senior advocate told him that the use of the slur had been approved by Mr Kejriwal.

Today, in an affidavit, Mr Kejriwal told the Delhi High Court that Mr Jethmalani was "not instructed" to use objectionable words against Union Minister. "With due respect, it is submitted that neither Kejriwal nor the counsel briefing the senior counsel Jethmalani gave instructions to the senior counsel to use the objectionable words on May 17, 2017," the affidavit read.

During the proceedings on May 17, Mr Jethmalani had said, "He (Arun Jaitley) is a crook and I will show this". After Mr Jaitley objected, he said, "Let the court note that I am doing this with my client's consent". In response, Mr Jaitley had said he would seek "aggravated damages".

Today, Mr Kejriwal's affidavit said he had also written a letter to Mr Jethmalani to deny the claim that the objectionable word was used following his instructions.

The choice of Mr Jethmalani to represent the Chief Minister in the defamation case filed by Mr Jaitley had generated controversy after it emerged that the Delhi government was to foot his legal fee of nearly Rs 4 crore. After massive criticism, Mr Jethmalani said he would not charge any fee.

In  his suit, Mr Jaitley said Mr Kejriwal made baseless allegations against him publicly, accusing him of corruption during his 13-year-term as head of the DDCA, the cricket body that governs Delhi and its surrounding areas.