Manish Sisodia is due to appear before the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in Guwahati on November 19 in connection with the original case filed by Himanta Sarma in June.
Guwahati,UPDATED: November 7, 2022 11:27 PM IST
Himanta Biswa Sarma had recorded his statement in court against Manish Sisodia on August 5.
By Press Trust of IndiaGauhati High Court has rejected a request from Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in which he prayed to dismiss a criminal defamation lawsuit filed against him by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma over alleged corruption charges filed against the latter destroy.
Sisodia is due to appear here before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court on Nov. 19 in connection with the original case filed by Sarma in June.
Judge Kalyan Rai Surana said in his order that Sisodia, also a leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), could not put forward any argument for quashing the proceedings pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Kamrup (Metropolitan) .
“So this request fails and the same is denied,” the order said.
Also read | Block Congress: Bengaluru Court Tells Twitter About Copyright Infringement
Senior lawyer Devajit Saikia, who represents the Assam CM in the criminal defamation case, said the AAP leader was initially asked to appear in court on September 29.
“He (Sisodia) did not appear that day for personal reasons. The next date has been set for November 19,” said Saikia.
The prime minister had recorded his statement to the court on August 5 regarding his case against Sisodia.
Sarma had filed a defamation complaint against Sisodia on June 30 for making “baseless” corruption charges against him in connection with the supply of PPE kits at “above market prices” to National Health Mission (NHM) authorities. ) during the first wave of the Covid19 pandemic.
Also read | Eknath Shinde’s minister takes advantage of Supriya Sule on TV. Protest, then apologize
The AAP leader had alleged that Sarma had placed urgent delivery orders with the companies of his wife and son’s business partners.
Sarma was the state health minister when the orders were placed in 2020 during the first BJP-led state government.
Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of the chief minister of Assam, had filed a Rs 100 crore defamation lawsuit against Delhi’s deputy CM on the same allegation on June 21.
The Supreme Court rejected Sisodia’s request on Friday.
Also read | ‘Defendant deprived of fair trial’: Supreme Court acquits 3 death row inmates