Satyendar Jain records evidence against Kapil Mishra in court

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain submitted today in a court here that he was defamed by sacked minister Kapil Mishra and a BJP MLA who had allegedly levelled graft charges against him.

Jain, who appeared before Metropolitan Magistrate Shefali Barnala Tandon, recorded pre-summoning evidence in support of his separate complaints against Mishra and BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

After completion of Jain's testimony, his advocate Gautam Dhamija submitted that he did not want to examine any other witness in support of the complaints.

The court listed the criminal defamation complaints for August 23 for hearing arguments.

Jain, while reiterating the contents of his complaints, claimed that Mishra had allegedly made defamatory statements against him in the media.
 

He deposed that Mishra had also used his official Twitter handle to defame him and instead of going to any probe agency, he had levelled the allegations.

He also submitted that Sirsa had alleged that the minister was circulating huge amounts of illegitimate money within the party.

Jain has also accused a media house of publishing the alleged "libellous and slanderous statements" made by Sirsa.

The court had earlier taken cognisance of the complaints filed against Mishra and Sirsa.

The complaints by Jain were filed on May 19.

If convicted, the offence of defamation entails a maximum punishment of two years.

Jain in his plea against Mishra, who was earlier heading the water department, has submitted that on May 7 he had made a statement accusing him of giving a bribe of Rs two crore to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on May 5.

He has said his family members and people from his constituency had questioned him about the incident which had caused irreparable damage to his reputation.

Regarding Sirsa, Jain has said that on May 9, the MLA had made libellous statements by levelling corruption allegation against him.

He has said that making a statement on the basis of "hearsay" without any proof or evidence supporting it, is not only unbecoming of an MLA, but also an offence of defamation.