The Gauhati High Court has dismissed a plea filed by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia seeking to quash a defamation case filed against Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on alleged corruption charges against the latter.

Sisodia is scheduled to appear before the Supreme Judicial Court (CJM) here on November 19 in connection with the original case filed by Sarma in June.

Justice Kalyan Rai Surana said in his order that Sisodia, who is also a leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was unable to make out any case for quashing the case before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Kamrup (Metropolitan).

“Therefore, this petition fails and the same is dismissed,” the order said.

Senior advocate Devajit Saikia, representing the Assam CM in the criminal defamation case, said the AAP leader was initially asked to appear before the court on September 29.

“He (Sisodia) did not appear that day citing personal reasons. The next date has been fixed for November 19,” Saikia said.

The chief minister recorded his statement before the court on August 5 regarding his case against Sisodia.

Sarma had filed a defamation case against Sisodia on June 30 making baseless corruption allegations in the global covid19 pandemic.

The AAP leader claimed that Sarma had given urgent supply orders to the companies of his wife and son’s business partners.

Sarma was the state health minister when the orders were imposed in 2020 during the first BJP-led state government.

Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of the Assam Chief Minister had on June 21 filed a Rs 100-crore defamation case against the Delhi Deputy CM on the same charges.

The Supreme Court rejected Sisodia’s plea on Friday.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and has been pulled directly from an aggregated feed.)