Rahul Gandhi Gets Bail in Defamation Case Filed by Ahmedabad Bank

Ahmedabad (Gujarat): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was on Friday granted bail by a court here after he pleaded not guilty in a criminal defamation suit filed by Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), in which Union home minister Amit Shah is one of the directors and its chairman Ajay Patel.

The bank filed the defamation suit against Gandhi after he alleged that it had swapped Rs 750 crore in scrapped currency with valid notes within five days of the announcement of demonetisation on November 8, 2016.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate N.B. Munshi asked Gandhi, as he appeared in the court if he accepted the charges. The Congress leader pleaded not guilty. His lawyer then applied for bail, which was granted.

Gandhi had levelled the allegations on Twitter last year.

The court had issued him summons on April 9 after conducting an inquiry under section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to decide whether there are sufficient grounds for proceeding against him.

They found that there was prima facie (on the face of it) some evidence against him.

The complainant said that the Congress leader levelled "false and defamatory allegations" against the bank.

Also read: With Rahul's Resignation, Will Congress Finally Extricate Itself From the Gandhis?

While Gandhi's allegation was based on a reply purportedly given by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to an RTI query, ADCB denied that it exchanged such a huge amount of scrapped currency.

Rahul Gandhi is facing multiple defamation cases across the country, including one filed by Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi over his jibe that all "thieves" seemed to have Modi as a surname.

Another case against him, filed in a Mumbai court, relates to his statement linking the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh with "RSS-BJP ideology".

Before appearing before the Ahmedabad court, Gandhi said he was thankful to his opponents for providing him with opportunities to take his ideological battle against them to the public.

I'm in Ahmedabad today, to appear in another case filed against me by my political opponents in the RSS/ BJP.

I thank them for providing me these platforms & opportunities to take my ideological battle against them to the public.

Satyameva Jayate ?

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 12, 2019

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