Court relief for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after 2 apologies

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday tendered written unconditional apologies to Union minister and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari and advocate Amit Sibal, son of Congress leader Kapil Sibal, in two separate criminal defamation cases after which he was acquitted by a city court.

The latest regret by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief comes just days after he offered an apology to Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in connection with comments over his alleged involvement in the drug trade.

The apology to Majithia, a former Punjab revenue minister, had drawn flak from his own party members in Punjab.

The Delhi Chief Minister, in his two separate apology letters, said he regretted making the defamatory remarks without any verification and accepted that they were based on “unfounded allegations”.

Advocate Kapil Sibal told reporters that Kejriwal's apology has been accepted, adding, “we don’t want to fight with anyone”.

Senior advocate Pinky Anand, who appeared for Gadkari, struck a similar note and said Kejriwal closing the issue was in the “larger interest of the nation” but asserted he must understand that defamation is a very strong offence. “He should be careful in future”.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, a co-accused with Kejriwal in the defamation case lodged by Amit Sibal, also tendered a written apology with the joint plea before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal.

However, the proceedings against lawyer and expelled AAP leader Prashant Bhushan and BJP leader Shazia Ilmi will continue in the defamation case lodged by Amit as they have not followed the suit so far. In the 2013 case lodged by Amit Sibal it was alleged that Kejriwal, Sisodia, Bhushan and Ilmi, who was then an AAP member, had targeted him and his father Kapil Sibal, the then telecom minister, over the Vodafone tax revision case and had allegedly raised the bogey of conflict of interest.