PATNA: A special MP/MLA court in Patna on Thursday issued summons to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asking him to appear before it on April 12 in connection with a case filed against him over his "how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?" remark
The complaint was lodged by former deputy chief minister and BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi in 2019 soon after controversy over Rahul's remarks during an election rally in Karnataka a few years ago.
The Congress leader is currently on bail in the case. On July 6, 2019, Rahul appeared before the court, which granted him bail. The statements of prosecution witnesses have already been recorded in court.
He has been summoned to get his statement recorded on the next date of the hearing.
Sushil Modi in a video-recorded statement said, “Rahul Gandhi had to surrender in the Patna court on July 6, 2019, to secure bail in the case. At present, he is on bail in the case.”
BJP MP said that apart from him, statements of other prosecution witnesses, including Nitin Nabin, Sanjiv Chaurasia (both MLAs), Suman Kumar Jha and Manish Kumar Singh had been recorded by the court.
In his complaint, Sushil Modi had alleged that the Congress leader while addressing an election rally in Karnataka purportedly said, “How come all the thieves have Modi as a common surname.”
Sushil Modi alleged that Rahul abused the backward classes by making objectionable comments and they will take revenge on the 52-year-old Congress leader in the upcoming election.
On March 23, a Surat court held Rahul guilty in a similar defamation case and awarded two years imprisonment. Later Rahul was disqualified from Lok Sabha on the basis of two years imprisonment in a criminal case.