DINDIGUL: A Congress leader in Tamil Nadu’s Dindgul district has been booked for allegedly threatening to chop off the tongue of the judge who delivered the verdict against Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 criminal defamation case.
The Dindigul police on Saturday registered a case against Congress Dindigul district president Manikandan over his controversial remark against the judge who delivered the verdict against Rahul Gandhi. “A case has been registered against Congress leader Manikandan under three sections of IPC including 153B for his remarks. Investigation is under way”, officials said.
Manikandan made the remark during a protesting against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul on April 6. “When we will come to power, we will chop off the tongue of the judge who delivered the verdict to send our leader Rahul Gandhi to jail”, Manikandan said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lost membership of the Lower House of Parliament after a Surat court convicted and sentenced him in a 2019 criminal defamation case. The case pertained to a remark he made using the surname ‘Modi’ while addressing a campaign event ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Kolar, Karnataka. Rahul Gandhi, in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had said, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”.
Following his conviction, Rahul was disqualified as an MP on March 24, as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2013. Under the ruling, any MP or MLA stands to be disqualified automatically if convicted and sentenced to two years or more. The Lok Sabha Secretariat on March 27 issued a notice to Rahul Gandhi, asking him to vacate his government bungalow following his disqualification as an MP. As per the notice, the allotment of his government bungalow will be cancelled with effect from April 24. (ANI)