New Delhi, (Samajweekly) Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Monday recorded his statement before a Delhi court in a defamation case against Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over the latter’s “misleading statements” against him.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harpreet Singh Jaspal of the Rouse Avenue Courts, post recording Shekhawat’s witness in the matter, scheduled the next recording of complainant’s witnesses on March 7.
Shekhawat filed a defamation case against Gehlot on March 4, claiming that Gehlot made defamatory statements against him in connection with the Sanjivani Credit Society scam.
The Union Minister has said that an investigation was initiated in the case but his name was not mentioned anywhere and demanded prosecution against Gehlot under the IPC.
He has also demanded appropriate financial compensation for the loss of his reputation.
He sought prosecution against the Rajasthan Chief Minister, saying Gehlot should be charged with criminal defamation under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa represented Shekhawat in court.
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”.
Taking a dig at Shekhawat, Gehlot said: “The Union Minister is trying to mislead the public in the case of the Sanjivani Cooperative Society Limited 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”.
He said: “The SOG presented three chargesheets but there is neither my nor my family’s name anywhere. Still, the Chief Minister called me an accused.”
