Sandeep Dikshit files Rs 10 crore defamation suit against AAP leaders Atishi, Sanjay Singh

As the campaign for Delhi Assembly elections peaked, senior Congress leader and the party’s candidate for the New Delhi constituency Sandeep Dikshit has filed civil and criminal defamation cases against Aam Aadmi Party leaders—Chief Minister Atishi and MP Sanjay Singh and others.

While the Rs 10 crore civil defamation suit has been filed in the Delhi High Court, the criminal defamation complaint was filed in the Rouse Avenue court here last week.

The hearing on Dikshit’s civil defamation suit was on Monday deferred by Justice PK Kaurav to February, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Paras Dalal last week asked the AAP leaders to appear before him on January 27 to respond to the charges.

The defamation cases arose from accusations made by the two AAP leaders during a press conference here on December 26, 2024, that Dikshit had accepted “crores of rupees” from the BJP and conspired with the party to sabotage AAP’s chances in the Assembly elections.

Denying the charges, Dikshit termed them as baseless and defamatory and sought Rs 10 crore as damages for the harm caused to his reputation.

In his defamation complaint, Dikshit accused the two senior AAP leaders of levelling unsubstantiated defamatory allegations during their press conference. Atishi and Sanjay Singh alleged that Dikshit and the Congress party had colluded with the BJP to defeat the AAP, the complaint stated.

However, Dikshit said in his complaint that the accusations were without any material evidence to back them up.

Atishi shared a live stream of the press conference on her X (formerly Twitter) account, with the caption: “BJP is helping Congress in the Delhi election,” the complaint highlighted.

The tweet, which has garnered over 30,000 views, along with the widespread media coverage of the defamatory statements, has further damaged his reputation, Dikshit said, contending these actions clearly amounted to defamation, as they were made with the intent to harm his standing.

Earlier, Dikshit had on January 2 sent a legal notice to the AAP leaders regarding the defamatory statements but the defamatory tweet was not removed and continued to tarnish his image, he stated.