DDCA defamation row: Jaitley grilled for second day running

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was on Tuesday subjected to intense grilling for his Rs 10 crore civil defamation suit against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi High Court in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name was sought to be dragged by noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani.

Jaitley, who termed the question referring to the Prime Minister as "scandalous", faced a barrage of questions including selective targetting of Kejriwal when other politicians had also raised the issue of corruption against him in the DDCA.

Jethmalani, who continued his cross-examination of the Minister for second consecutive day on behalf of Kejriwal, also incurred the displeasure of Joint Registrar Amit Kumar for asking some questions, like he had advised Modi "not to set you (Jaitley) up" as a candidate from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat which he eventually lost in the last elections.

Another question that why Jaitley did not sue former spin wizard Bishan Singh Bedi for raising the issue of graft in Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) which he headed for 13 years, was also disallowed by the Joint Registrar who said under the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), he had every right to allow or reject the question of the counsel. An upset Jethmalani was left complaining that he was a senior advocate but his questions were being disallowed.