Bengaluru court grants bail to Rahul Gandhi in defamation case filed by BJP

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, 7 June, was granted bail by a special court in Bengaluru in connection with a case filed by the BJP's Karnataka unit for issuing "defamatory" advertisements in mainstream newspapers.

The advertisement ahead of Assembly polls in 2023 accused the then BJP government in the state of indulging in large-scale corruption during its 2019-2023 rule.

The court had on 1 June granted bail to chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the state congress chief, after they appeared before it in connection with the defamation case.

Judge K N Shivakumar had directed Rahul Gandhi to appear before the court on 7 June without fail.

On 6 June, Rahul Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah were "directly involved" in what he described as the "biggest stock market scam" with retail investors losing Rs 30 lakh crore due to the market crashing after the Lok Sabha poll result, even as the BJP dismissed his charges as "baseless".

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the "scam" and sought an inquiry into the alleged role of the prime minister, home minister and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in it, claiming they had advised retail investors to buy stock before the result, which is "unprecedented".