Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sushil Chauhan on Wednesday withdrew the defamation case filed against BJP leaders Manoj Tiwari and Harish Khurana for allegedly making a statement against him after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was slapped by a man during the general elections campaigning earlier this year.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Samar Vishal allowed Chauhan to withdraw the suit. Kumar had recently quit the party and joined the BJP.
Speaking to , Chauhan said, "In the last Lok Sabha elections, after Arvind ji was attacked, the senior AAP leaders had asked me to file a defamation complaint against Manoj Tiwari and Harish Khurana. At that time, I asked my party members that it is not a big matter and I do not want to be a part of it."
He said that the AAP party should work for the people and not implicate workers in such matters. "I read about the case in media and thought of taking it back as it is not that big of a matter," Chauhan added.
Showing exuberance over the withdrawal of the complaint, Khurana, who is the respondent in the matter, said, "We had alleged that AAP's own party workers had attacked the chief. On this, a case was filed and withdrawn today. Arvind Kejriwal always tries to sway the attention away from the main issue."
The court had on May 13, admitted a criminal defamation case against Tiwari and Khurana. Chauhan had filed a complaint asserting that the duo had defamed him as the one who assaulted Kejriwal during a poll rally. He accused them of defaming the party by claiming that the entire incident was staged.
"Both the BJP party leaders showed a photo of the attacker in the press conference and Twitter and claimed that he was an AAP member," he had said in his petition, calling the allegations levelled by the BJP leaders, baseless.
On May 4, Kejriwal was slapped by a man, who was later identified as Suresh, in West Delhi while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.
The CM had stepped on to an open jeep and was shaking hands with supporters and waving at the gathering when Suresh wearing a maroon shirt climbed on to the vehicle and landed a slap on his face. AAP supporters immediately pulled him down and thrashed him.
( With inputs from ANI )