A special court in Pune has summoned Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case filed by the grandnephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, accusing the Congress leader of making objectionable remarks against the Hindutva ideologue.

The court issued the summons to Gandhi on Friday, asking him to appear before it on October 23.

Last year, Savarkar's grandnephew, Satyaki Savarkar, had lodged a complaint against the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha in this connection in a Pune court. Last month, the case was transferred to the special court for MPs and MLAs from the Judicial Magistrate First Class (FMFC) court.

Advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, who represents Satyaki Savarkar, told PTI that the special court for MPs an MLAs, presided over by Joint Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Amol Shinde, issued the summons against Gandhi stating that his attendance is necessary to answer a charge punishable under section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the case, and he is required to appear in person before the court on October 23.

In his complaint, Satyaki Savarkar alleged that Gandhi, in his speech made in London in March 2023, claimed 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 that V D Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere. He termed Gandhi's allegation as "fictitious, false, and malicious".

The court had asked the police to investigate the allegations and file a report. The Vishrambaug police station had carried out the inquiry and said that there is a prima-facie truth in the complaint.

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