Appearing in the MP-MLA court of Sultanpur to defend himself against a defamation case on Friday, Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said he had been implicated.

“I have been implicated due to political rivalry. I did not give any such statement in the press conference in Bengaluru,” the Congress leader stated before the court of Special Magistrate Shubham Verma.

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The next hearing of the case will be on August 12.

The defamation case pertains to indecent remarks the Congress leader is purported to have made against Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Bengaluru in 2018.

Rahul Gandhi, who arrived on Friday to record his statement in the court, completed the court process in about 20 minutes, amid slogans raised by his supporters and Congress workers outside the court. Soon after the completion of the process, he left the court with a grin on his face without saying anything.

This is his second appearance in the court in the case after February 20 last. Witnesses will appear on behalf of complainant Vijay Mishra on August 12. The former chairman of the Cooperative Bank and a BJP leader filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi in the special court five years ago.

According to the complainant’s advocate Santosh Pandey, it is alleged in the complaint that on July 15, 2018, party workers, Anirudh Shukla and Dinesh Kumar, had shown a video clip on their mobile in which Rahul Gandhi was seen calling Amit Shah a murderer.

In the statement, Rahul Gandhi was purportedly referring to the death of Justice Brijgopal Harkishan Loya in which Shah was given a clean chit by the Supreme Court.

On the basis of the statement and evidence of the complainant and two witnesses, the Congress MP was summoned by Special Magistrate Yogesh Yadav for a hearing under Section 500 of the IPC. On February 20, the court granted bail and exempted him from personally appearing on the production date.

However, he had to appear before the court to defend the charges against him. As the magistrate took a tough stand against him for skipping court summons on a few occasions in the past, on July 2, his advocate Kashi Prasad Shukla sought an opportunity to appear on July 26.