Vijender Gupta defamed, tarnished my reputation, says Delhi cabinet minister Kailash Gehlot
New Delhi [India], August 28 (ANI): Delhi Cabinet Minister Kailash Gehlot who is holding several portfolios including transport ministry has moved a Delhi Court and filed a criminal defamation complaint against BJP MLA Vijender Gupta for allegedly making a false statement of corruption against him in relation to the procurement of public buses.
The case was listed for the first hearing on Saturday, complainant Kailash Gehlot Cabinet Minister was himself present in the court. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravinder Pander adjourned the matter for September 1, 2021, as the physical copy of the complaint was not presented in the court.
State Transport Minister Kailash Gehlot through complaint stated that Vijender Gupta a sitting MLA of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has defamed and tarnished the reputation of Complainant, Kailash Gehlot.
The complaint alleged that the accused, Vijender Gupta intentionally for malafide purposes and to gain political mileage has levelled defamatory, scandalous, mischievous, false and scurrilous allegations on the complainant both verbal as well as in writing.
The accused has been continuously making allegations of corruption against the complainant since March 8, 2021, and he has continued to make reckless, irresponsible and false allegations with a deliberate intention and ill-will to tarnish the reputation of the complainant in the eyes of right-thinking people, said complaint copy.
It further added that the accused, for the purposes of harassing and defaming the complainant, has used the social media platforms irresponsibly and in a destructive manner to malign and target the reputation of the complainant. The accused has levied illogical, outrageous, reprehensible and intolerable allegations on the complainant which are neither true nor correct.
The false, reckless and defamatory allegations were made by the accused on innuendo and hunches, without checking the veracity or truthfulness of the allegations being made by him, plea read.
The vilifying and scandalous allegations were made by the accused in order to stall the ambitious project of the Delhi government to give major relief to the residents of Delhi who have chosen the Aam Aadmi Party over any other political group. The accused made scurrilous, misplaced and false allegations against the Complainant with an intention to teach people of Delhi a lesson for voting in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party, the plea alleged.
The effort of the Delhi Government as well as that of the complainant was to bring transparency and accountability to the process of procurement and maintenance of buses for trouble-free performance and availability of a sufficient number of buses at any given point in time. The DTC had made attempts to maintain the buses at their own Depots through their trained staff but this led to frequent breakdowns and non-availability of buses at any given point of time besides being too expensive to maintain, stated plea.
Along with a Criminal complaint, Kailash Gehlot had also filed a civil defamation suit in the Delhi high court against BJP MLA Vijender Gupta, seeking Rs 5 crores in damages and sought removal of social media posts by Vijender Gupta alleging irregularities in the procurement of public buses.
The Delhi High Court on Friday also kept the order reserved in Gahlot's civil defamation plea against Vijender Gupta for making corruption allegations.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently requested the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to conduct a preliminary inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of 1,000 low-floor buses by the Delhi government. (ANI)