Rahul Gandhi appears before Gujarat court in defamation case, denies charges

Surat, June 24

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi appeared before a magistrate’s court in Surat on Thursday to record his statement in a criminal defamation suit filed by a Gujarat MLA, and denied making any defamatory remarks on people with the ‘Modi’ surname.

The suit was filed by Surat BJP MLA Purnesh Modi over Gandhi’s alleged remark on the ‘Modi’ surname.

In his statement before Surat’s Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) AN Dave, Gandhi denied making any defamatory remarks on people with Modi surname during a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

When the magistrate asked Gandhi if he had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave Rs 30 crore to an industrialist, Gandhi told the court that being a national leader, he keeps raising issues of corruption and unemployment in his addresses in the interest of the nation, and it is his right to do so.

When the court asked if he had said all people with the Modi surname are thieves, Gandhi claimed he never said such words.

Besides, to most of the remaining questions related to the evidence and statements of witnesses in the case, Gandhi said “I don’t know”.

After recording the statement, the magistrate kept the case for next hearing on July 12. PTI