BJP MP moves SC against Rahul's remarks on Rafale, SC to hear plea on April 15

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for allegedly attributing his remarks on the recent Rafale verdict to the apex court.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it will hear the plea on April 15.

Lekhi, who is a sitting Lok Sabha MP from New Delhi constituency, in her plea alleged that Gandhi has attributed his personal remarks to the top court and tried to create prejudice.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Lekhi, told the bench that the Congress president reportedly made a remark that the "Supreme Court said chowkidaar chor hai" in the verdict.

The Congress president had on April 10 claimed that the apex court has made it clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed a theft.

He had made the statement while interacting with reporters in Amethi after filing his nomination papers where he is contesting against BJP leader and union minister Smriti Irani.

Gandhi had also recalled a recent interview by the prime minister, in which Modi had said the Supreme Court had given a clean chit to his government on the Rafale deal.

Now the SC has made it clear that 'chowkidarji' (watchman) has committed a theft, Gandhi had told reporters after filing his nomination papers from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.

He had claimed that the apex court has accepted that there is some corruption in Rafale.

The apex court, which had earlier cleared the Modi government of accusations of corruption over the Rafale deal with France, Tuesday said it will hear a review petition on the basis of the new documents, referred to by the petitioners.

It had on Wednesday allowed the plea of petitioners relying on leaked documents for seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them.

"I am happy and I have been saying so for months that Hindustan's PM has given the air force money to (industrialist) Anil Ambani, and the SC has accepted it. The SC is going to investigate it," Gandhi had said.

I want to thank the SC. It's a very happy day. The SC has talked about justice. Justice has prevailed," he had added.

The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.