New Delhi: The complainant in the defamation case filed against Rahul Gandhi has paid Rs 1,500 to the Congress leader, according to the orders of a court at Bhiwandi in Maharashtra's Thane district, news agency PTI reported.
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) J V Paliwal directed the complainant, local RSS worker Rajesh Kunte, to pay the cash to Gandhi after he (Kunte) requested an adjournment of the case.
Kunte had filed for an adjournment of the case twice, in March and April, which the court denied and ordered him to pay Gandhi Rs 500 (for March) and Rs 1,000 (for April).
Kunte filed the lawsuit against Gandhi in 2014 after seeing his speech at Thane's Bhiwandi township, in which the Congress politician claimed that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was behind Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. Kunte felt that this comment harmed the RSS's credibility.
Speaking to the press on Saturday, Gandhi's counsel Narayan Iyer said, "A sum of Rs 1,500 sent by Kunte through money order as per the court's directions has been received at the office of Rahul Gandhi in Delhi," PTI reported.
The complainant's lawyer, Ganesh Dhargalkar, acknowledged that his client had given Rs 1,500 to Gandhi's Delhi office in accordance with the court's directions.
Iyer stated that the court has already established May 10 as the start date for the case's day-to-day hearings.
In 2018, a court in Thane issued charges against Gandhi in the matter, although he pleaded not guilty.
(With PTI Inputs)