Vehicles in Rahul Gandhi Convoy Collide on Purvanchal Expressway, Several Injured and Gandhi Unhurt

Updated 06:40 UTC

A court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on Monday acquitted Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case over his 2018 remarks about Amit Shah, LiveLaw and Bar and Bench reported. Gandhi was present in court when Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shubham Verma pronounced the verdict. Bar and Bench reported that the court said the remarks were not defamatory in nature.

The case, filed under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, was brought in 2018 by BJP leader Vijay Mishra over a statement Gandhi made in Bengaluru during the Karnataka elections, in which he called Shah, then president of the BJP, a murder accused. Gandhi disputed the allegations and said his remarks had been presented out of context, while the complainant maintained that the remarks were defamatory, LiveLaw reported. Senior Advocate RS Cheema, with advocates Kashi Shukla, Tarannum Cheema, Prasanna S and Akash Singh, represented Gandhi, Bar and Bench reported. The acquittal ends the Sultanpur case that Gandhi had travelled to hear on Monday, on the journey during which vehicles at the rear of his convoy collided on the Purvanchal Expressway.

Several people were injured on Monday morning when vehicles at the rear of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's convoy collided with each other on the Purvanchal Expressway in Sultanpur district, Uttar Pradesh. Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was travelling in a separate vehicle farther ahead and was unharmed, according to reports from the scene.

The collision took place near the 91 kilometre milestone in the Haliyapur area of the expressway, on the road from Lucknow to Sultanpur. Five vehicles from the convoy and an ambulance were involved, according to the IANS news agency. Party workers, officials and security personnel were among those injured. The exact number of injured people and the extent of their injuries had not been confirmed in the first reports.

A chain collision after sudden braking

Preliminary accounts attributed the crash to sudden braking, which set off a chain collision among the vehicles travelling at the rear of the convoy. Several cars were damaged at the front. Police described the collision as minor, and the first accounts carried no reports of serious injuries.

Gandhi remained in his own vehicle, continued towards Sultanpur after the incident, and his travel schedule was not changed by the crash.

Travelling to a court verdict

Gandhi was on the road to Sultanpur to appear in person before a special MP-MLA court, which was scheduled to pronounce its verdict on Monday in a defamation case against him. He had flown into Lucknow in the morning, where Congress workers received him at the airport, and then set out by road under heavy security.

The case dates back to August 4, 2018, when BJP leader Vijay Mishra, a former chairman of the Sultanpur District Cooperative Bank, filed a complaint over remarks Gandhi made about Amit Shah at a campaign rally in Bengaluru ahead of the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections. Shah was president of the BJP at the time and is now India's home minister.

Additional Civil Judge Shubham Verma had earlier set October 13 for the verdict before the pronouncement was moved to October 26. The complainant's counsel, Santosh Kumar Pandey, said Gandhi was required to appear in person for the judgment. Sultanpur Superintendent of Police Vineet Jaiswal had said Gandhi was expected to arrive at around 10 a.m., and police had deployed personnel around the court premises for the hearing.

Gandhi's defence counsel, Kashi Prasad Shukla, told ANI on Sunday that the Congress leader would appear in court at 12:00 p.m. for the pronouncement, and that the bail bond procedure that follows a verdict would be completed after the judgment. Uttar Pradesh Congress president Aradhana Mishra told PTI Videos that the party had complete faith in the judiciary.

The court delivered its judgment later on Monday, as reported in the update at the top of this article.