Rahul Gandhi accused of constructing false statements in Savarkar defamation proceedings

A perjury utility has been filed within the Special MP/MLA Court in Pune towards Congress MP and Leader of Opposition within the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of deceptive the courtroom in a defamation case over his remarks on Vinayak Damodar “Veer” Savarkar, made in London. 

The utility has been filed by Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of Veer Savarkar, by advocate Sangram Kolhatkar. It alleges that Mr. Gandhi falsely claimed in a 15-page pursis, or assertion to the courtroom, on July 29 that he had not obtained the defamatory video which kinds the crux of the criticism. The plea states that Mr. Gandhi’s advocate had acknowledged receipt of the paperwork, together with a CD containing the speech, on May 9. 

Pen drives and CDs

According to the appliance, Mr. Gandhi additionally admitted in his reply to having obtained a pen drive containing the video uploaded on YouTube however claimed that it was non-functional. A brand new pen drive was later offered and operated in courtroom within the presence of his advocate. The utility says that Mr. Gandhi nonetheless alleged non-receipt and filed a “false pursis.”

It additional factors to a different utility filed by Mr. Gandhi’s advocate on May 28, admitting receipt of the pen drive however refusing to function it, citing attainable malware. The pen drive is at the moment in Court custody. The plea phrases these actions a “deliberate and malicious try and deceive, mislead, and make false statements earlier than the courtroom”, arguing that such conduct from a constitutional office-holder is “critical and unbecoming”.  

Unnecessary delays

Speaking to The Hindu, the advocate Mr. Kolhatkar mentioned, “Multiple instances we’ve got handed him over the speech doc, we even offered him the hyperlink, transcript of all the speech that was round 17 minutes lengthy. We have additionally submitted information stories of the speech. We imagine they should have misplaced them repeatedly as a result of they preserve saying they can not entry the CD, then once we gave them the file in a brand new pen drive, they mentioned it was corrupt, then one other contemporary pen drive was offered to them and this time they mentioned the pen drive would possibly comprise malware and will injury their pc system.” 

He added, “For so lengthy, we’ve got ignored each criticism however now sufficient is sufficient. We are compelled to file the perjury as a result of we’re fed up with their excuses. We need a honest trial. The case is happening since 2023 and the trial has not even began. So a lot money and time has been wasted, together with the courtroom’s time.” 

Milind Dattatraya Pawar, the advocate representing Rahul Gandhi, countered, “None of the information within the type of CD and pen drives offered by Satyaki Savarkar works. They offered us the copy of the London speech in a CD which has by no means labored. The pen drives too don’t work. We will file our reply on September 10.”  

The courtroom is scheduled to listen to the matter on September 10, 2025.