Patna court asks Rahul to appear on April 12

A Patna court has asked Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on April 12, in a defamation suit similar to the Surat case in which the Congress leader was last week sentenced to two years in jail.

The special judge of the MP, MLA and MLC court in the Bihar capital has summoned Gandhi to record his statement on a petition filed by BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. Gandhi is currently on bail in the case.

"The statements of all the witnesses from the complainant side have been recorded and all the evidence has been submitted. Now the case is pending for the statement of Rahul Gandhi and April 12 has been fixed as a date for his recording of the statement," SD Sanjay, the lawyer for Sushil Modi in the case, told ET.


However, sources told ET that Gandhi may not appear on April 12 and his lawyer in the case, Anshul Kumar, could ask for another date for recording his statement.

The case was filed in 2019 by the BJP leader, who alleged that Gandhi had humiliated the 'Modi' community by calling them thieves. The Congress leader surrendered before the court and was granted bail.

The case in Surat was filed by Gujarat BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, making similar allegations. There are five witnesses in the Bihar case, including Sushil Kumar Modi, who in August 2022 was the last witness to record his statement. In February this year, the complainant submitted the evidence he has in the case.