Rahul Gandhi

Surat Court, on Thursday, awarded two-year jail term to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case for his ‘all thieves have Modi surname’ remark. The case was filed against Gandhi 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.

The Court also imposed a fine of ₹15,000 after finding him guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (dealing with defamation). However, he secured a bail in the same case. 

Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Verma heard the final arguments regarding Gandhi’s 2019 remark, “Why all the thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi have Modi in their names.” Gandhi’s counsel Kirit Panwala said, “We will today send a message to Rahul Gandhi to remain present on March 23 in Surat district court. Most probably, he would be present in the court. We will get confirmation on Saturday.”

Gandhi made the alleged remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

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Rahul Gandhi

Surat Court held Congress MP Rahul Gandhi guilty in a defamation case for his ‘all thieves have Modi surname’ remark. The case was filed against Gandhi 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.

Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Verma heard the final arguments regarding Gandhi’s 2019 remark, “Why all the thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi have Modi in their names.” Gandhi’s counsel Kirit Panwala said, “We will today send a message to Rahul Gandhi to remain present on March 23 in Surat district court. Most probably, he would be present in the court. We will get confirmation on Saturday.”

Gandhi had last appeared before the Surat court in the case, filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (dealing with defamation), in October 2021 to record his statement. Gandhi made the alleged remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

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The condition of the car post accident on Samruddhi Mahamarg

Six people including a 12-year-old girl, four women and one man traveling in a high speed car on Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway (Lonar taluka of Buldhana district) died in a tragic crash on Sunday morning after the car driver Suresh Bharat Barve (35) fell asleep and lost control of the vehicle.

However, seven other passengers in the car including four small children along with the driver were rushed to Aurangabad for medical attention. Cops said the 13 people in the car were headed to Shengaon from Aurangabad. 

Sandeep Pise, an eye witness, claimed had the ambulance arrived on time,  several lives could have been saved. He told told mid-day, “I was working in my field around 7.55 am on Sunday when I heard a loud thud. I could tell that a major accident had occurred so I immediately rushed to the spot along with others working in the field. I saw women and children scattered on the busy road while a few of them were in a semi-conscious condition and the others were writhing in pain.

He added, “The accident took place near Shivni Pisa village, which is between two toll plazas, Mehkar Fardapur and Dusarbid, on the expressway. Both the toll plazas are around 15 km away, and an ambulance could have easily reached within 10 minutes. But it arrived after 45 minutes.”

“The only person inside the car was the driver, who later struggled to get out of the vehicle and started running here and there on the highway. Later the driver also fainted on the road. We called our relatives and friends from a nearby village. Around 100 people gathered in no time and we tried to call the authorities for immediate help,” he added.

“When a local police team reached the spot, they started to shoo us away when we requested them to rush the severely injured people to a nearby hospital. But the cops started to shout at us and they waited for the arrival of the ambulance that came after 45 minutes. Had the ambulance come a little early, at least a few lives could have been saved,” he added.

The Samruddhi Mahamarg, also known as Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway, is open to traffic between Shirdi and Nagpur.

The deceased have been identified as Janhavi Suresh Barve, 11; Hausabai Bharat Barve, 75; Shraddha Suresh Barve, 28; Kiran Rajendra Bodade, 28; Bhagyashree Kiran Bodade, 25; and Pramila Rajendra Bodade, 52. Those rushed to the hospital, besides Suresh, are Namrata Ravindra Barve, 32; Rudra Ravindra Barve, 12; Yash Ravindra Barve, 10; Saumya Ravindra Barve, 4; Jatin Suresh Barve, 4; Vaishnavi Sunil Gaikwad, 19.

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