Sting operation row: Court to consider AAP's plea on 25 January

New Delhi: A Delhi court today fixed January 25 for considering the criminal defamation complaint filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) against the CEO of news portal ‘Media Sarkar’ for releasing a “doctored” video allegedly showing some party candidates accepting funds through illegal means. The AAP’s defamation complaint came up for hearing before Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain who said that he would go through the plea first before proceeding ahead. “Let me go through the matter first then I will proceed,” the magistrate told the counsel appearing for AAP. [caption id=“attachment_1253423” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Arvind Kejriwal. PTI[/caption] During the hearing, advocate V K Ohri, who appeared for AAP, told the court that their complaint is “urgent in nature” as the Assembly elections in Delhi is scheduled on December 4 and the doctored CD was shown on TV to defame the party and its candidates. “The CD was shown on TV and actual talks were doctored. You (magistrate) please see the CD and you will see how an offence is committed. They (accused) are trying to defame our candidates. Damage has already been caused by this,” Ohri told the court. He also alleged that Congress and BJP does not want AAP to “gain momentum” before the upcoming elections and the media portal circulated the CD containing defamatory allegations against the party and its candidates. The counsel also said that they have got the raw footage of the alleged sting operation from the Election Commission and the court should go through it as it would make it clear that editing was done in the footage which was shown on TV. The court, however, after hearing the brief submissions posted the matter for January 25, 2014. “Fix the matter for consideration on pre-summoning evidence for January 25, 2014,” the magistrate said. Besides Anuranjan Jha, CEO of Media Sarkar, AAP has also named two officials of a private news channel as accused in its complaint saying they constantly carried the story based on alleged sting operation without verifying its “veracity”. The plea was filed by AAP and Dinesh Mohania who is contesting the upcoming Delhi assembly polls from Sangam Vihar constituency on AAP’s ticket and was shown in the sting operation. In its plea, AAP has claimed that Jha had released the “edited CD” which “appears to be doctored” and it was damaging for the party as it lowers their image in the eyes of general public. The sting operation alleged that several AAP leaders, who were contacted for their help in helping recover money from some individuals and getting through some controversial land deals, readily agreed to extend their support in return for donations in cash to the party. The charges have been dismissed as baseless by AAP. PTI