Rahul Gandhi seeks more time for appearance, next hearing on July 4

Ranchi: In an interim relief to the Congress leader, a special court in Ranchi on Friday allowed Rahul Gandhi 15 days’ time to appear before it in connection with an ongoing hearing in the ‘Modi surname case’.

Gandhi’s lawyer had asked for 15 days’ time from Ranchi’s MP-MLA special court.

The court of magistrate Anamika Kisku had on May 3 rejected Gandhi’s petition for exemption from physical appearance in the matter following which the order was challenged in the Jharkhand high court which is yet to hear the case. “Based on our petition in the high court we prayed for 15-day time. The court has posted the matter for the next hearing on July 4,” said Gandhi’s counsel Deepankar Roy.

The matter is related to an ongoing defamation case filed by one Pradip Modi for Gandhi’s alleged ‘All Modis are thieves’ comment at an election rally in Ranchi in 2019. In a similar case, Gandhi was convicted by a Gujarat court in March and subsequently disqualified from the Lok Sabha.

The former Congress president allegedly made the remark in Karnataka’s Kolar district ahead of the 2019 national election and Gandhi was found guilty by a court in Surat in Gujarat, which is prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state. The court sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail but he has been released on bail so he can appeal the verdict.

Later, Pradip filed a defamation case against Gandhi. The Jharkhand high court on July 2, 2022, had rejected his quashing petition. In May, the MP-MLA court in Ranchi had rejected Gandhi’s plea for exemption from personal appearance. Subsequently, the lower court issued a fresh summons to Gandhi.With agency inputs