New Delhi: A Surat Session Court on Thursday reserved its verdict in an appeal file by former Congress President and disqualified member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi seeking a stay on conviction order by a Magistrate court in Modi surname criminal defamation case. 

Judge Robin Mogera heard Rahul Gandhi and Complainant, BJP MLA Purnesh Modi before reserving the verdict in the case. He will pronounce the verdict on April 20. 

Days after being convicted in the “Modi Surname” defamation case, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on April 3 appeared in a Gujarat court and appealed against the magistrate court decision. Gandhi was sentenced to two years in jail for his controversial remarks.

Rahul’s appeal had been accompanied by two applications, the first for suspension of imprisonment sentence and the second for Suspension of conviction. 

The Surat court awarded imprisonment of 2 years to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. Later, the court granted bail to Gandhi. Meanwhile, the order was suspended for the next 30 days so that the Congress MP could appeal in the High Court.

Gandhi was convicted for his remark at a Lok Sabha polls rally in Karnataka on April 13, 2019. “Why all the thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi, have Modi in their names,” Gandhi allegedly said during the rally.

Also Read: Muslim quota cancellation: Supreme Court issues notice to BJP-led Karnataka govt