Prima facie truth in complaint accusing Rahul Gandhi of defaming Savarkar: Pune cops tell court
Pune, May 28: The Pune police have said there is prima facie truth in a complaint filed against Rahul Gandhi by V D 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 May 27.
"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 (V D 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 V D 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.
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3 held, hunt on for 4 accomplices after they kidnap, assault and urinate on man in Bhopal
Bhopal (PTI): Police have registered a case against seven persons and arrested three of them for allegedly kidnapping, assaulting and urinating on a 22-year-old man in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal, officials said on Thursday.
The incident occurred during the intervening night of April 26 and 27 in an area located under the Hanumanganj police station limits, an official said.
One of the accused urinated on the face of the victim and captured a video of the act, which was later circulated on social media to humiliate him, he said.
"A complaint in this connection was lodged by Jaswant Markam (22), a resident of Kamla Nagar, based on which a case was registered against seven persons under sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and police have arrested three of them, including one Prem Thapa," Bhopal Police Commissioner Sanjay Kumar said.
Three police teams have been formed and the remaining suspects will be apprehended soon, he said.
During the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, Markam was at the local bus stand with a friend when around 4 am, the accused took him away on the pretext of discussing something with him. They asked him about his neighbour and friend Aniket. When he refused to provide any information, they started assaulting him, the police said.
The accused then took him to a forest in Karond area, where he was stripped and severely thrashed, they said.
When the man began to lose consciousness, one of the accused urinated on his face and made a video of the act, which was circulated on social media to humiliate him and spread terror, according to the police.
The accused called Markam's friend around 5 am to inform him about his condition. The victim was subsequently admitted to a hospital, the officials said, adding that the viral video was also being investigated.
Responding to a query, Hanumanganj police station in-charge Awdhesh Bhadoria said if the victim was found to be from the tribal community, then relevant sections will be invoked against the accused.
At present, the police are probing the incident and search is on to arrest the remaining accused, he added.
In 2023, a man had urinated on a tribal youth in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh. A video of the incident had gone viral on social media platforms and created a controversy.
