Bank defamation case: HC suspends proceedings against Rahul Gandhi till Mar 10

The Gujarat High Court hassuspended till March 10 the lower court's proceedings in acriminal defamation case filed against Congress leader RahulGandhi by the Ahmedabad District Cooperative (ADC) Bank.

Following the high court's directive on Wednesday,Gandhi's discharge plea, filed before Additional ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate S P Dulera and which was supposed tocome up for hearing on Thursday, will now be taken up on March15.

ADC Bank chairman Ajay Patel, one of the complainantsin the case, had approached the high court after themetropolitan court rejected his plea seeking exemption frompersonal appearance before the court twice.

On February 3, when Patel's plea seeking exemption aswell as adjournment of proceedings was rejected for the secondtime, Rahul Gandhi's lawyer moved an application seekingdischarge of his client from the case on the ground ofcontinuous absence of the complainant.

Meanwhile, Patel knocked on the doors of the highcourt againstthe lower court's order on the ground that hewas unable to attend the proceedings as he ''was suffering fromCOVID-19 and was advised to take rest by doctors''.

High Court Justice B N Karia on Wednesday allowedPatel's plea and asked the metropolitan court to suspend theproceedings till March 10, when the high court would conductfurther hearing.

Justice Karia also advised Patel to file a freshexemption plea before the metropolitan court and remarked that''the (lower) court shall consider the prayer of theapplicant'', the order stated.

ADC Bank and Patel dragged Gandhi to court over theCongress leader's allegation that the bank was involved in ascam as it swapped scrapped notes of Rs 750 crore with validcurrency within five days of demonetisation in 2016.