The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s petition seeking a stay on proceedings in a criminal defamation case against him, PTI reported. The court set aside the Aam Aadmi Party leader’s plea calling it “devoid of merit”. The case was filed by Arun Jaitley against Kejriwal and five AAP leaders for falsely accusing the Union finance minister of corruption during his tenure as head of the Delhi District Cricket Association.

Justice PS Teji said, “Nothing has been brought before this court to the effect that continuation of criminal proceedings is abuse of the process of law before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and any order is required by this court to secure the ends of justice.” The court concluded that the May 19 decision of the CMM to proceed in the case was “free from perversity, impropriety, illegality and non-sustainability”.

The others named in the case filed in December 2015 include Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai. A Patiala House Court had granted bail to the defendants in April. Jaitley had also filed a Rs 10-crore civil suit against Kejriwal and the five AAP leaders.