The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea demanding a CBI probe against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi over allegations that he had declared himself as a British citizen.
A bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy dismissed the plea as "frivolous and baseless", The Times of India reported.
Pointing out inconsistencies in the PIL, the bench questioned the petitioner's allegations and said that he did not have any evidence to support his statements. It also said that if Gandhi had made false statements about his citizenship in his nomination papers, it was up to the Election Commission's to take action against him, states the report.
"Who is to prove that he made incorrect statements? You cannot make allegations on the basis of some documents. We cannot start making a roving inquiry against anyone," the report quoted the bench as saying.
The TOI report further states, "Sensing the mood of the court, the petitioner, advocate M L Sharma, pleaded with the court to allow him to withdraw the petition so that he could approach the appropriate forum on the issue. The bench, however, refused to allow him to withdraw the petition."
Last month, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had alleged that Rahul Gandhi had declared himself to be a British national with a UK address to the British authorities at least till 2009, thereby in violation of Indian law. Swamy had also demanded a CBI or ED probe into the issue.
Refuting the allegations, Gandhi had said, "They should throw me in jail if they find anything against me. I am not scared, I’ll keep fighting for the weak."
Congress spokesperson R S Surjewala told TOI, "Let it be put on record that the petition filed by M L Sharma contains exactly the same documents which have been used by Swamy . The court has vindicated what we have been saying for long."