ED summons BJP worker who filed petition in HC questioning Rahul Gandhi's citizenship

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has summoned a Karnataka BJP worker who had petitioned the Allahabad High Court claiming that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is a British citizen, official sources said Saturday.

The man, identified as S Vignesh Shishir, has been asked to depose before the federal probe agency on September 9. He has ben directed to appear with all the evidence and documents he has on the case as per the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), Enforcement Directorate (ED) sources said.

A probe into these allegations is underway, they said.

Under FEMA, the ED probes complaints related to foreign exchange law violations by individuals and companies.

When asked about the matter, the Congress party declined to comment.

In a PIL filed before the Allahabad High Court, Shishir had claimed that he has documents and some emails of the British government which prove Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is a British citizen, and due to that he is ineligible to contest elections in India.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on August 30 had ordered round-the-clock security for Shishir to be provided by the Union government.

A bench of Justices Sangeeta Chandra and B R Singh passed the order on a writ petition filed in this regard by the BJP worker.

In its interim order, the bench observed, "We are prima facie satisfied that the matter required consideration as the petitioner has been pursuing his cases against a very powerful individual and is facing constant threats and has to appear before the investigating officer at police station Kotwali, Raebareli district, in pursuance of notice issued to him."

Shishir had submitted to the HC that on his complaint, moved in June 2024, a probe was underway by the CBI and he claimed that he had appeared before the agency in Delhi on multiple occasions, furnishing evidence of Gandhi's alleged British citizenship.

The matter has been posted for October 9 by the HC.

During a hearing in this case sometime back, the central government had informed the court that the government of India had written to the UK Government seeking details about Gandhi's British citizenship.