Corruption Allegations: High Court Restrains Aam Aadmi Party From Making Defamatory Statements Against Delhi LG

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday passed an ad interim injunction order in favour of Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena and against Aam Aadmi Party and its five leaders in connection with a matter pertaining to their corruption allegations against him.

Justice Amit Bansal passed the order on an interim application filed by Saxena seeking temporary injunction restraining AAP and its five senior leaders.

"I [have] passed an ad interim injunction order in favour of the plaintiff and a take down order. There are detailed directions," said the court.

The five leaders are Atishi Singh, Durgesh Pathak, Saurabh Bhardwaj, Sanjay Singh and Jasmine Shah.

The Court had reserved order in the matter last week after hearing Senior Advocates Maninder Singh and Mahesh Jethmalani,who represented Saxena. Senior Advocates Rajeev Nayar, Sandeep Sethi and Arun Bhardwaj appeared for the defendants.

Issuing summons on Saxena's suit, the court on September 22 said written statements be filed within thirty days and also sought affidavit of admission or denial from the defendants. The suit was accompanied with an application for interim relief filed under Order 31 Rule 1 and 2 of Code of Civil Procedure praying for a temporary injunction to restrain the party and its members, until the disposal of the suit or until further orders.

Saxena had filed the suit against AAP and its leaders for levelling allegations of of corruption against him. In August, the party had accused Saxena of committing money laundering when he was holding the post of the Chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission during the time of demonetisation in November 2016.

On September 5, the Delhi LG had got a legal notice issued to the national capital's ruling party and its leaders asking them to cease and desist from making or publishing or circulating alleged defamatory statements against him.

In the notice issued to the party and its leaders, Saxena said AAP has built a false narrative to the effect that "he received and channelised demonetised currency" of Rs 1400 crores in each cash.

"In fact, AAP has, both directly and indirectly, through several third parties, gone ahead with a media blitzkrieg to build and spread its false narrative, and used all media platforms, social media and other media outlets to peddle its lies and perpetuate the damage to my Client's reputation," said Saxena in the notice sent through Advocate Bani Dikshit. 

The notice further claimed that the allegations made by the party were absolutely untruthful and entirely bizarre, adding that there was no antecedent or plausible explanation to raise allegations of corrupt practices against Saxena.

"There is not an iota of truth or public interest in what has been so aggressively published / circulated and caused to be published / circulated in public domain by AAP. There is not a shred of evidence and / or basis for the allegations regarding an alleged scam of Rs. 1400 Crores, which is nothing but a figment of imagination," the notice read further.

Title: VINAI KUMAR SAXENA v. AAM AADMI PARTY & ORS.