Conspiracy to malign Rahul Gandhi's image hatched abroad? CBI to probe

NEW DELHI: As a petition accusing Rahul Gandhi of having illegally confined a girl was dismissed by Supreme Court, CBI is likely to send Letters Rogatory to a foreign country seeking legal help suspecting a conspiracy to malign his image was hatched there.

CBI has claimed that the email claiming that the AICC General Secretary and others had confined the girl had originated from a foreign country, sources said today.

The agency is likely to send the judicial request to the country seeking its help in the investigation and to track the culprits behind the email, the sources said without divulging the name of the country.

Highly placed CBI sources said the LRs were likely to be sent soon.

Supreme Court today dismissed a petition against Gandhi and slapped costs of Rs 10 lakh, including Rs 5 lakh on an ex-SP MLA, who had filed it for damaging his image.

The apex court also directed the CBI to continue its probe against the petitioner ex-Samajwadi Party MLA Kishore Samrite and other persons who are involved in filing of the petition and asked it to submit a report within six months.

Samrite filed his plea on the basis of the email which relied on reports carried by some websites, the agency sources added.