Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at the Congress Working Committee meeting at AICC headquarters in New Delhi on Monday. PTI Photo (PTI11_7_2016_000363B) Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at the Congress Working Committee meeting at AICC headquarters in New Delhi on Monday. PTI Photo (PTI11_7_2016_000363B)

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is addressing party workers in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra, soon after he was granted bail by a local court in a criminal defamation case filed against him for his alleged remarks that the RSS was involved in Mahatma Gandhi’s murder. The bail was granted on a personal surety.

The case will be heard next on January 30, which is incidentally the date when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948.

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The case has been filed by a local Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh functionary, Rajesh Kunte, claiming that the Congress vice-president during an election rally on March 6, 2014 blamed the RSS for killing Mahatma Gandhi.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had stayed the proceedings against Rahul but the latter withdrew his petition from the court in September saying he would face the trial. The move came after the apex court refused to interfere in the criminal proceedings pending against Rahul in the trial court. He submitted before the court that he “stood by every word of his statement”.

Rahul reached Mumbai on Tuesday morning where he was welcomed by the party leaders and volunteers at the airport. He left for Bhiwandi on Wednesday morning as the apex court had also declined his plea to exempt him from personal appearance before the court.

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