Ram Jethmalani ready to defend Arvind Kejriwal for ‘free’

New Delhi: Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani on Tuesday said that he would defend Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for free in the court, if the latter is not able to pay his fees.

"Even if (Delhi) government doesn't pay or he can't pay, I will appear for free, will treat him (Kejriwal) as one of my poor clients," Jethmalani, who has raised a bill of Rs 3.42 crore for his services to Kejriwal, was quoted as saying by the ANI.

He also claimed that he only charges rich and his services are free for poor.

"All this is instigated by (Arun) Jailtley who's afraid of my cross-examination," he said while taking a jibe at the Union finance minister.

Earlier, Times Now had reported that the Delhi government wanted the taxpayer to pay the cost of Kejriwal's defence, running into crores.

In 2015, Jaitley had filed a criminal defamation complaint against Kejriwal and AAP leaders Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai over their comments over the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) controversy, seeking their prosecution for offences that entail a punishment of up to two years in jail. A civil defamation suit has also been filed by Jaitley before the Delhi High Court in relation to the matter seeking Rs 10 crore in damages. Sources said that the Lt Governor is learnt to have written to Kumar seeking his advice on whether the payment should be cleared or not.