NEW DELHI |Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj has questioned Minister Parvesh Verma’s court statement in a defamation case, pointing to his social media posts about Amarjeet Singh ‘Babbu’. He stated that the BJP minister denied knowing Babbu in court despite Facebook posts describing him as an old friend and showing him with Babbu and his family. The court has also barred the deletion of the photos and videos cited in the case following a request from Saurabh Bharadwaj’s lawyer.
Addressing a press conference, AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj stated that Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma had filed a defamation case against him, including a criminal case and a civil suit seeking ₹5 crore. “I myself wanted him to go to court. The case he filed was over my posting a Facebook post by one of his close associates, Amarjeet Singh Babbu. In that post, Amarjeet Singh Babbu had written, ‘Many thanks to Delhi’s popular minister Parvesh Verma for making me a trustee of the S.S. Mota Singh School Charitable Trust.’ He had also attached the trust’s letter showing that he had been made a trustee along with three other people,” he added.
Explaining the questions raised by the post, he said, “Our question was, if he became a trustee, why was he thanking Parvesh Verma? What does Parvesh Verma have to do with the school? We asked what Parvesh Verma’s connection was and why he was being thanked. We had written that the victim’s mother had spoken about a political connection to the school. A person close to Minister Parvesh Verma was thanking him for making him a trustee. Why is Minister Ashish Sood not making the file relating to this trust public?”
“The District Magistrate’s office suddenly said that it could not find the file, and the office has been sitting on it. How can Minister Parvesh Verma make someone a trustee of a private school trust? And why was this Facebook post later deleted?” he questioned.
Recounting what followed, Saurabh Bharadwaj continued, “I then posted a screenshot of the Facebook post and asked how this man, who is close to Minister Parvesh Verma, could be made a trustee of a trust with assets worth around ₹500 crore. Is this Parvesh Verma’s trust? Why are Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Ashish Sood not making the trust’s file public? Why has the trust file disappeared? We thought that since a minister had gone to court himself with so much fanfare to file a defamation complaint, at least he would come to court on the strength of the truth. But when we read his testimony, I was myself shocked at what the minister had testified.”
He asserted, “Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma lied before the court and said that he had no relationship whatsoever with Amarjeet Singh Babbu. In other words, he said that he did not even know Amarjeet Singh Babbu. To hide who Amarjeet Singh Babbu is, his social media account was locked so that we could not find photographs and videos of him with Parvesh Verma. But there is a post on Parvesh Verma’s Facebook page dated November 25, 2023. In it, Parvesh Verma is cutting the birthday cake of Amarjeet Singh Babbu’s granddaughter and writes, ‘I reached the birthday of brother Shri Amarjeet Singh Babbu Ji’s granddaughter and blessed the daughters.’ Here he is cutting the cake of brother Amarjeet Singh Babbu’s granddaughter, while telling the court that he does not even know him.”
Citing another social media post, the senior AAP leader added,“On October 2, 2022, Parvesh Verma also wished Amarjeet Singh Babbu a happy birthday on Facebook, writing, ‘Many congratulations and best wishes to my elder brother Shri Amarjeet Singh Ji Babbu, whom I have known since my college days.’ On one hand, he is writing this, and on the other, he is telling the court that he does not know him. Sahib Singh Verma was highly respected, but this man has completely ruined that reputation.”
Referring to a 2018 event, he further stated, “On March 30, 2018, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma thanked Amarjeet Singh Babbu through his X account for organising a camp. He wrote, ‘Many thanks to Babbu Ji, Pappu Ji, Ratandeep Ji and Bedi Ji for the medical camp in memory of Dr Sahib Singh Verma in Ashok Nagar.’ Ratandeep is Babbu’s son. Babbu’s photograph was also displayed on the hoarding behind them at the event. Parvesh Verma is standing with a microphone, while Babbu is also sitting on the stage. But in court, he has said that he does not even know who Babbu is.”
Describing the steps taken in court, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “On Tuesday, my lawyer Rajat Bharadwaj filed an application before the court stating that on the Facebook account of Ratandeep, the son of Amarjeet Singh Babbu, there are dozens of photographs and videos of Amarjeet Singh Babbu and Parvesh Verma, in which they are cutting cakes with the family. We requested that the court direct Parvesh Verma and his associates not to delete these posts. We also requested that the court direct Facebook, that is Meta, and X to preserve these posts even if they are deleted, and to save their metadata and server logs.”
He said the opposing counsel resisted the request.“Parvesh Verma’s lawyer opposed our demand and said, ‘How can this be done now? This application cannot even be discussed at this stage.’ We would like to sincerely thank the court because when Parvesh Verma’s lawyers sought time from the court to respond to this at the next hearing, our lawyer immediately said, ‘They will delete everything as soon as they leave the court.’ The court understood this concern and ordered that Parvesh Verma and his associates would not delete these Facebook and X posts, and that Meta and X would also preserve them.”
Pointing to the material submitted before the court, the AAP Delhi Chief stated, “The links we placed before the court show Parvesh Verma cutting cakes for his granddaughters in some cases and for his son in others. It appears that Parvesh Verma gets almost all the cakes cut in their family. It is clearly visible that Parvesh Verma attended the birthdays of Amarjeet Singh Babbu’s granddaughter and son and blessed them.”
Questioning why Parvesh Verma denied knowing Amarjeet Singh Babbu, he asserted,“A man who himself went to court to file a defamation case and is demanding ₹5 crore from me does not even have the courage to stand up and say that Amarjeet Singh Babbu is my brother from my college days, and that I celebrate the birthdays of his son and granddaughters. What is he afraid of? One should speak the truth. Minister Parvesh Verma has come to court and lied under oath.”
Concluding, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Now we should put up posters in Hari Nagar, with Babbu’s photograph on one side and Parvesh Verma’s photograph on the other. We should ask people how many of them have seen these two together. Every political person in Hari Nagar has seen them together at every gathering, yet he immediately denied knowing him and lied. At least fight on the basis of truth. If such hollow people become ministers of Delhi, one can imagine what kind of work is being done in this Delhi.”
