Last week, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma had concluded hearing final arguments from both sides and set March 23 to pronounce its judgment in the four-year-old defamation case, Gandhi's lawyer Kirit Panwala had said.
A Surat court on Thursday (March 23) convicted Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi for his 'Modi surname' comments and handed out a two-year jail term to the Wayanad MP. The court granted Gandhi bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.
On Friday, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Member of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction in the criminal defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark.
Also read: 'No change in Rahul Gandhi's conduct...' Surat court's 168-page verdict
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.
Purnesh Modi lives with his family in the Adajan area of Surat, Gujarat. He won the by-election for the 13th Legislative Assembly in Gujarat (2013 to 2017), which was facilitated following the death of the then MLA Kishore Bhai.
Also Read: Rahul Gandhi disqualified as Member of Lok Sabha after Surat Court verdict
Purnesh Modi later came up as the BJP's candidate for the 2017 assembly bypolls, which he won.
Last week, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma had concluded hearing final arguments from both sides and set March 23 to pronounce its judgment in the four-year-old defamation case, Gandhi's lawyer Kirit Panwala had said.
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.
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Purnesh Modi is also known as the BJP's OBC (Other Backward Classes) face in Surat. He has more in common with the Prime Minister than just his last name. Like Narendra Modi, Purnesh too grew up in poverty and worked as a tea seller when he was young, local BJP leaders from Surat say.
He also worked as a daily wage labourer for a while before joining a local law firm as an apprentice. He developed an interest in law and eventually studied to become a lawyer.