Sultanpur: A court here on Wednesday gave the complainant in a defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a final opportunity to present arguments, fixing September 21 for the next hearing with a warning against further delay.
The case relates to alleged objectionable remarks Gandhi made against Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Bengaluru in 2018.
The hearing before the MP/MLA special court was deferred after Santosh Kumar Pandey, appearing for the complainant and local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician Vijay Mishra, sought more time to prepare his arguments, citing his engagement in a religious event.
Gandhi's lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla said Special Magistrate Shubham Verma granted Pandey the final opportunity to argue, with a warning.
Mishra, a former chairman of a district cooperative bank, had filed the defamation complaint against Gandhi on August 4, 2018.
The court had summoned Gandhi to appear in the case on November 27, 2023.
After he failed to appear, a warrant was issued. Gandhi subsequently appeared before the court on February 20, 2024, and was granted bail after furnishing two sureties of Rs 25,000 and Rs 24,000. His statement was recorded in the case on July 26, 2024.
Mishra, on March 28, 2026, sought matching of Gandhi's voice sample with a compact disc he had submitted to the special court. The disc reportedly contains video and audio recordings of Rahul Gandhi's 2018 election speech in Bengaluru.
The trial court rejected the plea on May 2, and the sessions court dismissed his challenge on July 15. Mishra subsequently approached the Allahabad High Court, challenging the orders, Shukla said.
At the previous hearing on September 3, the complainant's lawyer informed the court that a petition challenging the rejection of an application seeking comparison of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's voice sample had been filed in the High Court on September 1.