Rahul Gandhi
– Photo: ANI
Expansion
The Delhi High Court was informed on Wednesday that investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been initiated into the PIL filed in the Allahabad High Court against the alleged British citizenship of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. BJP member from Karnataka Vignesh Shishir has filed a PIL in the Allahabad High Court. Vignesh Shishir appeared virtually before the division bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in this matter. He has sought direction to the Central Government to file a status report on his complaint against the Congress leader.
Shishir said that he has appeared before the CBI in this case and has presented very confidential evidence in this case. CBI is currently investigating this matter. Since the proceedings in Allahabad High Court have progressed a lot. Shishir sought some time to place on record relevant documents on the developments in his PIL before the Allahabad High Court. The bench ordered that the affidavit be filed within two weeks along with the application to be impleaded. During the hearing, the bench orally observed that the PIL pending before the Allahabad High Court involved wide-ranging prayers and it did not want two parallel proceedings to continue on the same issue.
Shishir claimed that his PIL before the Allahabad High Court is at an advanced stage, while Swamy, appearing in person, told the court that he had raised the issue in 2017 itself and the prayers in both the cases are not the same. The case will now be heard on December 6. In August 2019, Swamy had written a letter to the Center over alleged violations by the Congress leader in voluntarily disclosing to the British government that he was a citizen of British nationality, which is equivalent to holding a British passport. Swamy has alleged that Gandhi, being an Indian citizen, has violated Article 9 of the Indian Constitution along with the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955.
Swamy has claimed that Gandhi will cease to be an Indian citizen. Article 9 of the Constitution of India states that no person shall be a citizen of India or be deemed to be a citizen of India if he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any foreign State. The central government had sent a notice to Gandhi on 20 April 2019 with the subject matter of complaint regarding citizenship. Swamy wrote that a company called Backops Limited was registered in the United Kingdom in 2003, of which Gandhi was the director and secretary. He further alleged that in the company’s annual returns filed in 2005 and 2006, Gandhi’s date of birth was stated as June 19, 1970 and his nationality was stated as British.
