Bengaluru court grants bail to Rahul Gandhi in 'PayCM' campaign defamation case

A Bengaluru court on June 7 granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in connection with a case filed by the BJP's Karnataka unit for issuing "defamatory" advertisements.

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

On June 1, the court 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, PTI reported.

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

Rahul Gandhi is the fourth accused in the case, following Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), Shivakumar, and Siddaramaiah, who are the first three accused.

BJP MLC and General Secretary Keshav Prasad had filed the defamation suit against the Congress state unit, its president D K Shivakumar, then Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress had alleged that a 40 percent commission was levied for the execution of all public works, also released a 'corruption rate card' targeting the previous government in the advertisement. Rahul Gandhi had retweeted the tweets made by his party in the run-up to the elections.

Gandhi is the fourth accused in the case and skipped the June 1 hearing, marking a second consecutive no-show and inviting the displeasure of the court. The judge had fixed June 7 for the personal appearance of the AICC leader, without fail.