Pune, 28 May

The Pune police have said there is prima facie truth in a complaint filed against Rahul Gandhi by VD Savarkar's grandnephew who had accused the Congress leader of defaming the Hindutva ideologue in a speech made in London in 2023.

The police stated this in an enquiry report submitted on Monday in the court of judicial magistrate (first class) Akshi Jain, said advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, who represents Satyaki Ashok Savarkar, the complainant.

Kolhatkar said the court may issue a notice to Rahul Gandhi seeking his appearance. Satyaki Savarkar had said his lawyers moved the city court with a complaint under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500 (defamation) in April last year.

The court had asked the Vishrambaug police to verify the proof submitted by Satyaki Savarkar and submit a report by 27 May. "The Vishrambaug police stated that Satyaki Savarkar had filed a complaint in the court last April accusing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of making false claims about the late revolutionary (VD Savarkar) in a speech made in London in March 2023," said Kolhatkar.

As per the complaint, Rahul Gandhi claimed in his speech that V D Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (Savarkar) felt happy.

Satyaki Savarkar said no such incident ever took place, and V D Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere, the complaint stated, terming Rahul Gandhi's allegation as fictitious, false and malicious. "The Vishrambaug police submitted a report on Monday and told the court that in their probe, it has been revealed that V D Savarkar had not written about such incident in any of his books but despite that Gandhi made that kind of remarks during his speech in London in March 2023 and defamed Savarkar," said Kolhatkar.

The police stated prima facie there is a truth in the complaint filed by Satyaki Savarkar that Gandhi defamed VD Savarkar in his speech.

When contacted, assistant police inspector Tukaram Nimbalkar confirmed the report was submitted in the court. Notably, a Surat metropolitan court in March 2023 convicted Rahul Gandhi of criminal defamation for his 2019 remark, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?", and sentenced him to two years in jail.

A sessions court granted him bail in April last year. The Supreme Court in August last year stayed his conviction in the defamation case.