New Delhi, Feb 28: A court here Fri issued summons to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a defamation case filed by BJP leder Nitin Gadkari for business him “corrupt”.

Metropolitan magistrate Gomati Manocha has asked Kejriwal to look April 7 as the next date of hearing.

The complaint filed by Gadkari aforesaid that on to Jan 31, “Kejriwal has deliberately released the list of ‘India’s most corrupt’ people mentioning his (Gadkari’s) name in a grossly irresponsible  manner”.

Advocate Pinki Anand, showing for the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, told the court that Kejriwal created the statement with malafide intention to lower Gadkari’s dignity.

The court Feb 18 had recorded the statements of Gadkari and 2 other witnesses.

Kejriwal “has deliberately tried to malign (Gadkari’s) image tho’ he’s not concerned in any wrongful or corrupt act”, the complaint explicit .

It also requested the court to act against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and prosecute him for defaming the previous BJP president.

Gadkari had told the court that false, baseless, scandalous, denigrating statements and news things by Kejriwal against him are widely published, circulated and skim by public at giant and have lowered  his dignity in the eyes of public.

Being then the chief minister, Kejriwal didn’t maintain the dignity of the post by creating a false statement, the petition aforesaid.