Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was on Friday granted bail in connection with a criminal defamation case, ANI reported. The case was filed by Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank and its chairman Ajay Patel.
The Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court allowed bail to Gandhi for a case in which the plaintiff alleged that the former Congress party president and party’s national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had made false allegations against the bank. The Congress leaders had claimed demonetised notes worth Rs 745 crore were exchanged at the bank within five days of the government’s announcement of the note ban in November 2016. Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah is a director on the bank’s board.
In its petition, the bank denied the allegations and said that it did not have that much demonetised notes to exchange. The Congress leaders had made the claims based on a media report about a response given by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to a Right to Information query.
The news report was first published by the Indo-Asian News Service, claiming that Rs 745.59 crore of demonetised notes had been deposited in the bank – the highest deposit among district cooperative banks. Several news publications had taken down the article hours after publishing it.
Meanwhile, Gandhi thanked the BJP for giving him the opportunities to take up his ideological battle against them. “I’m in Ahmedabad today, to appear in another case filed against me by my political opponents in the RSS/BJP,” he tweeted. “I thank them for providing me these platforms and opportunities to take my ideological battle against them to the public. Satyameva Jayate.”
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!