New Delhi, 29 October (H.S.): Delhi government minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa has filed a criminal defamation complaint against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bharadwaj and two other party leaders before the Rouse Avenue Court in New Delhi. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Joshi has scheduled the next hearing for November 18.

Sirsa recorded his statement before the court on Thursday, alleging that the accusations made by AAP leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj, Sanjeev Jha and Kuldeep Kumar were baseless and had damaged the reputation of his family. He also alleged that the leaders had previously made similar unsubstantiated accusations against him.

The AAP leaders had accused Sirsa of misusing funds collected in a gurdwara’s donation box and allegedly referred to him as a “Gullak Chor” (donation-box thief).

In his statement before the court, Sirsa said the donation box held a deeply sacred place in Sikhism and that the use of such language had severely harmed his social and religious standing.

He further alleged that the AAP leaders had accused him of selling subsidised rice worth approximately Rs. 22,000 crore, intended for economically disadvantaged people in Delhi, to a private company in Haryana.

The complaint concerns allegations that Sirsa maintains are defamatory. The claims made by the AAP leaders and the allegations in the complaint remain matters for legal consideration.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar