Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia have been asked to appear on July 16 in court. (File)

A Delhi court has summoned Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia on July 16 in a criminal defamation complaint filed by BJP leader Vijender Gupta.

Mr Gupta had accused the AAP leaders of "maligning" his image by accusing him of attempting to kill Mr Kejriwal.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal said the allegations of the accused were "prima facie defamatory" and referred to Mr Gupta. "There exists sufficient ground to proceed against the respondents... Accordingly, Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia are summoned for commission of offence of defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code," the court said.

Mr Gupta, the Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, has claimed in the complaint that due to widespread circulation of tweets and news reports on the statement of the two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, his reputation was harmed for which they have not expressed any remorse or apologised.

He has alleged that the statements of the accused were made with "ulterior motives" to harm his reputation, malign his image and gain some cheap political mileage in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

During the general election, Mr Kejriwal had said in an interview that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted to get him killed by his own personal security officer (PSO) in the manner in which Indira Gandhi had been assassinated. Mr Sisodia had accused Mr Gupta of being a part of the alleged conspiracy.