Pune, 14 Aug

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's lawyer on Thursday withdrew from a Pune court the plea claiming apprehension of threat to the Parliamentarian from followers of Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

The lawyer, Milind Pawar, said the court has accepted withdrawal of the plea.

On Thursday, Pawar filed an application before Special MP/MLA Court judge Amol Shinde stating that the defence intends to file a 'withdrawal pursis' filed on Wednesday in the case and added that the 'pursis' is hence withdrawn as not pressed at this stage.

Earlier on Wednesday, hours after filing the plea, the lawyer said it was filed without Gandhi's consent and would be withdrawn.

Pawar is representing Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed by Satyaki Savarkar, grand-nephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, over certain statements made by the Congress leader against the late freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue.

In a press release issued late Wednesday evening, Pawar said he drafted the application without consulting Gandhi and the latter has taken "strong exception to the filing of this Pursis and expressed his disagreement with its contents".

The application filed by Pawar earlier on Wednesday said complainant Satyaki Savarkar had admitted that he is also a direct descendant, through maternal lineage, of Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse, principal accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and recently held a press conference in Delhi, placing before the nation evidence of electoral fraud by the Election Commission, the application said.

"Furthermore, during the Parliamentary debate on the subject of Hindutva, there was a heated exchange between the Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi, a matter well known to the public. Against this backdrop, there is little doubt that the complainant, his great-grandfathers (the Godses), those connected with the ideology of Vinayak Savarkar, and some followers of Savarkar who are presently in power, may harbour hostility or resentment towards Gandhi," the application said.

The Pune court has already granted bail to Rahul Gandhi in the defamation case. The trial is yet to begin.

Satyaki Savarkar had filed a defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi, alleging that in a speech made in London in March 2023, the Congress leader claimed VD 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 ever took place, and VD Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere, the complaint claimed.