No material to substantiate AAP's allegations that Delhi LG Vinai Kumar Saxena was involved in ₹1,400 crore corruption: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court n Tuesday held that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders’ allegations that Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena was involved in corruption of nearly ₹1,400 crore during demonetisation is "completely unsubstantiated". .Single-judge Justice Amit Bansal said that there is no material to substantiate the allegation that Saxena paid nearly ₹80 crore to his daughter to renovate the Khadi Village and Industries Commission (KVIC) lounge in Mumbai..On the allegations of cash payments to weavers in Bihar, the Court said that there is nothing in the Patna High Court order that personally indicts Saxena.The Court said that even if some irregularities occurred while he was the Chairman of KVIC, Saxena cannot be made personally liable for the same.“This cannot be the basis of a personal attack against the plaintiff.he being the chairman of KVIC cannot be,” the Court said..Justice Bansal held that on a prima facie view, the various statements, interviews, press conferences, tweets, re-tweets and hashtags made by AAP leaders were per se defamatory.“They have been made in a reckless manner, without any factual verification, in order to tarnish the reputation of the plaintiff," the Court stated.Therefore, the bench restrained AAP leaders Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bhardwaj, Atishi, Jasmine Shah and Durgesh Pathak from posting any defamatory or factually incorrect tweets, retweets, hashtags or videos of press conference/interviews against Saxena and his daughter.“The defendants no.1 to 6 are directed to delete/remove all the defamatory or factually incorrect tweets, re-tweets, hashtags, videos of press conferences/interviews, comments, captions and taglines against the plaintiff and/or his daughter published on the social media platforms,” the Court ordered..The case will now be considered by the High Court on February 6, 2023. .Saxena filed the defamation suit against the AAP leaders through advocate Bani Dikshit for levelling ‘derogatory’ and ‘malicious’ charges against him.The AAP legislators had alleged in the Delhi Assembly on August 29 that Saxena had pressured his employees to exchange demonetised currency.They had also alleged financial irregularities to the tune of ₹1,400 when Saxena was heading the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). The AAP leaders had also claimed that Saxena misused his position and awarded a contract for the interior design of Khadi lounge in Mumbai to his daughter.The party demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the matter and called for Saxena’s arrest..The LG had sent a legal notice to AAP leaders earlier this month asking them to issue a press statement directing all party members and people associated with the party to cease and desist from spreading defamatory and unsubstantiated statements. He had demanded that they comply with the notice within 48 hours.However, the AAP leaders had refused to do so, resulting in the defamation suit..Senior Advocates Mahesh Jethmalani and Maninder Singh along with advocates Bani Dikshit, Ravi Sharma, Uddhav Khanna, Ishaan Karki, Raghav Tewari, Ashita Chawla, Navneet R, Prabhas Bajaj, Kishan Kumar, Wed Khalo and Anjani Kumar RG appeared for Saxena.AAP and its leaders were represented through Senior Advocates Rajeev Nayar, Sandeep Sethi and Arun Bhardwaj along with advocates Anupam Srivastava, Vasuh Misra, Rishikesh Kumar, Mohd. Irsad, Rakesh Kumar Sinha, Rajneesh Bhaskar, Karn Bhardwaj, Udit Malik, Rishikesh Kumar, Manish Sharma and Ninad Dograand.Advocates Karan Sharma, Sheenu Priya, Aditya Raj, Ajit Warrier, Angad Kochhar, Arbaaz Hussain, Sajal Mendiratta and Akash Deep Singh appeared for other defendants. .[Read Judgment]