Delhi Court Summons Atishi In Defamation Case Filed By BJP Leader; Kejriwal Says She Will Be Arrested

The Rouse Avenue Court issued summons to Delhi Cabinet Minister Atishi in a defamation case filed by BJP leader Praveen Shankar Kapoor over her allegations that the Bharatiya Janata Party attempted to poach AAP MLAs by offering them ‘Rs 20-30 crores’ to join their party.

The court directed the Aam Aadmi Party leader to appear before the court on June 29

During the ruling, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Tanya Bamniyal of the Rouse Avenue Courts stated that no prima facie case was established against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, thus ruling out the need of summoning 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 stated.

As per Bar and Bench report, Kapoor, who is also the Delhi BJP media head, had filed a defamation case against both Kejriwal and Atishi, alleging that whenever the Enforcement Directorate (ED) approached AAP leaders regarding any case, they would accuse the saffron party of attempting to poach AAP MLAs.

Atishi is next: Kejriwal

Responding to the court summons against Atishi, Delhi Chief Minister targeted the Modi government, criticising the court’s order as indicative of a pattern of targeting the AAP leaders, calling it a “complete dictatorship.”

“I had said earlier that they will arrest Atishi next. They are planning to do so now. Complete dictatorship. In completely flimsy, frivolous and false cases, they are arresting ALL leaders of AAP one by one. Every single opposition leader will be arrested if Modi ji comes back to power. AAP is not imp. Saving our dear country from dictatorship is imp.,” Kejriwal wrote on X.

Earlier in January, Kejriwal had alleged in an X post that the BJP offered Rs 25 crore each to seven AAP MLAs to quit the party while also threatening to topple the government in Delhi.

Atishi had also accused the BJP of launching “Operation Lotus 2.0” in Delhi. “They had made a similar attempt to poach AAP MLAs last year by offering them money but failed,” she said at a press conference.

Following the allegations, a delegation of the Delhi BJP on January 30 met the city police chief, seeking a probe into Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s allegations.

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