Savarkar's grandnephew files complaint against Rahul Gandhi for not attending court

Pune: Satyaki Savarkar, grandnephew of V D Savarkar, on Friday filed a complaint against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "willfully abstaining" from recording his plea before a Pune court in a defamation case over `objectionable' remarks about the late Hindutva ideologue.

The complaint was filed before the special court for cases against MPs/MLAs through Satyaki Savarkar's lawyer Sangram Kolhatkar after Gandhi's lawyer Milind Pawar sought adjournment, stating his client had yet to go through the material obtained from the complainant regarding the case.

The court posted the matter for hearing on May 28. Notably, the court has already granted Rahul Gandhi permanent exemption from attending the trial.

Advocate Kolhatkar argued that the court was scheduled to record Gandhi's bail plea on Friday, but the accused willfully abstained from attending the proceedings.

"While granting bail to the accused, the court had laid down a condition that he will not seek adjournment, and the counsel of the accused will remain present on every date of the trial," stated the complaint.

He sought seizure of Gandhi's bail bond, and coercive action to secure his presence.

Advocate Pawar sought time to file a reply. The court then adjourned the matter to May 28.

Satyaki Savarkar has alleged that Rahul Gandhi, currently Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, claimed in a speech in London in March 2023 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.

No such incident had ever taken place, and V D Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere, the complaint stated.