Rahul Gandhi acquitted in 2018 Amit Shah defamation case after appearing before UP's Sultanpur court

Rahul Gandhi was acquitted on Monday by a special MP-MLA court in Sultanpur in a 2018 defamation case tied to remarks he made about then-BJP president Amit Shah. Gandhi, the Congress leader and MP from Raebareli, attended the hearing as the verdict was delivered. The complaint had been filed by local BJP leader Vijay Mishra on Aug. 4, 2018, over Gandhi’s comments at a Bengaluru rally ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections. Gandhi had appeared before the court in 2023 and secured bail. The court had set Oct. 13 for the verdict before rescheduling it to Oct. 26. Earlier the same day, vehicles in his convoy collided on the Purvanchal Expressway near Sultanpur, following an abrupt brake by a private car; the cause remained unclear.