Delhi court summons Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot in defamation case

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday issued summons to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat over the former’s “misleading statements” against him in connection with the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harjeet Singh Jaspal of the Rouse Avenue Court has ordered Gehlot to appear before it on August 7.

Earlier, the court had directed the police to investigate Shekhawat’s complaint.

Judge Jaspal had said that the investigation should be such that the answers to these three questions — whether complainant Shekhawat was addressed as “an accused” in the Sanjivani scam by accused Gehlot, whether Gehlot stated that the allegations against Shekhawat stand proved in the Sanjivani scam and whether Shekhawat or his family members have been arrayed as “an accused” in the investigation of the scam — are answered.

Shekhawat filed a defamation case against Gehlot in March this year and ha said that an investigation was initiated in the case but his name was not mentioned anywhere and demanded prosecution against Gehlot for criminal defamation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

He has also demanded appropriate financial compensation for the loss of his
reputation.

Earlier, the war of words between Gehlot and Shekhawat had intensified over the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam with the Rajasthan Chief Minister openly declaring the Union Minister “a culprit like the others”.

“The Union Minister is trying to mislead the public in the case of the Sanjivani Cooperative Society Ltd scam. In the investigation of the Special Operation Group (SOG), the crime has been proved against him under the same sections as the other arrested accused.

“Shekhawat had said that Gehlot terming him as an ‘accused’ in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam is akin to his “political assassination to settle scores”.

“The SOG presented three charge sheets but there is neither my nor my family’s name anywhere. Still, the Chief Minister called me an accused,” he had said.