Bihar Minister records statement in defamation case filed against Rahul

Patna, June 10 (IANS) In a criminal defamation suit filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the statement of Nitin Navin, the road construction minister of Bihar, was registered in the MLA-MLC court here on Friday.

The criminal defamation case was filed by former deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi in the MLA-MLC court on April 12 this year in Patna.

S.D. Sanjay, senior lawyer and former solicitor general of Bihar told IANS that the statement of Bihar BJP leader Sanjiv Chaurasia has already been registered in the MLA-MLC court on April 12 and BJYM leader Manish Kumar on April 22.

"Apart from Sanjiv Chaurasia and Manish Kumar, Nitin Navin is the key witness of this case. Now, the statement of Sushil Modi is remaining and his statement will be recorded at the next hearing," Sanjay said.

During the hearing of the case on Friday, complainant Sushil Kumar Modi accompanied by a team of lwwyers -- S.D. Sanjay, Subodh Jha, Arjun Kumar, Ratnesh Kumar and Priya Gupta -- were present in the court.

Sushil Modi, in a complaint case number 1551(C) of 2019 levelled allegations against Rahul Gandhi for his poll speech in Karnataka where he said that all Modis are thieves.

Rahul Gandhi, during the public meeting in Kolar district in Karnataka said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed demonetisation in the country and put entire countrymen in the queues of banks.

"He (Narendra Modi) has partially restricted the money of common people to withdraw from banks and the money of common people would be given to his 15 friends," Rahul Gandhi said in his speech.

"There is a group of thieves. They have a team. They are taking money from your pockets, snatching the money from farmers, small traders and giving it to those 15 friends. PM Narendra Modi is saying to you people that it is a fight against black money. He put you in the queues of banks, taking the money from your pockets and depositing into the banks and then you learn about your money being taken away by Nirav Modi who fled from the country with Rs 35,000 crore," Gandhi said at that time.

"There is a long list of names apart from Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi is the other name, Lalit Modi. Now, I want to ask a small question. Why do all thieves have names Modi-Modi-Modi. Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi and if we search more, we will get some more Modi," Gandhi said.

Based on the speech of Rahul Gandhi in Kolar on April 13, 2019, Sushil Modi, the BJP Rajya Sabha MP believes that it was a derogatory statement on the people having surname Modi.

"Rahul Gandhi in a statement had said that all people having Modi surnames are thieves. He (Sushil Modi) is also having Modi surname and as it was election time, his statement may influence the voters. Hence, he has filed a criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi," Sanjay said.