Two days after Union Minister Smriti Irani accused the Gandhi family of “land-grabbing,” a revenue court in Amethi has reversed the allegedly questionable sale of a piece of land belonging to the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust.

Gauriganj sub-divisional magistrate Vandita Srivastava, who passed the order, said the land, which is in Kauhar village in Uttar Pradesh, belonged to UPSIDC and was illegally transferred to the trust.

Attacking Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on his home turf on Monday, Ms. Irani claimed that 65 acres of farmers’ land, which was acquired for setting up Samrat Bicycles factory, was sold to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust on February 24 this year. “Narendara Modi is not a liar but Rahul is. Grabbing 65 acres of farmers’ land in Amethi is proof of it,” she said.

Rahul mounts defence

In Congress’s defence, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi said the trust “had explained itself very, very clearly.”

“It runs a self-help group system that is the largest in Uttar Pradesh. They have created SHGs for over 1.4 million women. They have transformed the lives of millions and millions of women there. So Ms. Irani should go into the details of what work they have done and exactly what they are doing before she says anything,” he told reporters in Jammu.

Counsel Uma Shanker Pandey, who had been represented the farmers, said the regional manager of UPSIDC had written a letter to Amethi district magistrate stating the 65-acre land was leased to the company, Samrat Bicycles — which has been accused of selling it to the trust — in 1983.

The land, Pandey said, had been acquired from farmers and leased to the company for 90 years for setting up a manufacturing plant. But the company had to be closed down later. In order to repay their debts, they sold it by claiming the land was theirs by drawing up forged deeds and land records.

Action comes close on heels of Smriti Irani levelling allegations against Gandhi family