Rahul Gandhi, a Congressman, is being sued for defamation in connection with a statement he made during the campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections: “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” Rahul Gandhi, a Congressman from Surat, was found guilty on Thursday in a defamation lawsuit stemming from his claimed remark about the “Modi surname” during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign. The Congress leader was given a two-year prison sentence by the court, but later received bail, according to news agency ANI.

“Rahul Gandhi told the Judge that whatever he said was not intentional,” his advocate told reporters outside the court. “Rahul Gandhi has been convicted under Section 499 and 500 of IPC. The sentence awarded is for 2 years and against that sentence, he has plead that he may be released on bail till appeal period and as per law, the Court has granted him bail for 30 days and until appeal, the sentence is suspended by the Court,” stated Purnesh Modi’s Advocate, Ketan Reshamwala. The Wayanad MP arrived in the city this morning after last week’s conclusion of the Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma’s court’s hearing of closing arguments from both parties and the date of March 23 being set for the announcement of the verdict in the four-year-old defamation case.

The case was filed against the Wayanad MP for his alleged “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” remarks on a complaint lodged by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi. In advance of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi allegedly made the comments while speaking at a rally in Kolar, Karnataka.  The BJP MLA said in his complaint that Gandhi, when speaking at the election rally in 2019, disparaged the whole Modi community by allegedly saying, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”

The first Bhupendra Patel administration had Modi as a minister. In the elections held in December, the member of the ruling party’s legislative caucus was returned to the Surat West Assembly seat. According to Indian Criminal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500, a case was filed against the Congress leader (dealing with defamation). In October 2021, Gandhi made his final court appearance in Surat to give a statement. Prior to that, the Congress MP had entered a not guilty plea to the accusations made against him in court.