The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday conducted a two-hour in-chamber hearing on a criminal writ petition seeking a federal investigation into allegations of disproportionate assets against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
According to the high court website, the matter has been listed for its next hearing on August 20. The official written order from Monday’s session presided over by a division bench comprising Justice R.S. Chauhan and Justice B.R. Singh had not yet been uploaded to the court portal at the time of reporting.
The petition was filed by S. Vignesh Shishir, a Bharatiya Janata Party worker from Karnataka, who has alleged that Gandhi accumulated assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The plea requests a comprehensive inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
Agency Responses and Court Directives
The proceedings follow an earlier in-chamber hearing held on May 12, the order for which was published on May 14. During that session, the bench directed multiple central government entities to verify the allegations and submit their responses through counter-affidavits within an eight-week timeframe.
The court instructed the Ministry of Finance’s Department of Revenue, the Department of Personnel and Training, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, alongside the CBI and ED, to inform the bench of any progress made regarding the complaint.
In previous submissions, the CBI confirmed to the court that it had received the petitioner’s complaint and pledged to file a response. The ED similarly indicated that it would verify the claims and apprise the court of its findings.
Maintainability and Case Documents
Addressing initial questions regarding whether the writ petition is maintainable, the division bench noted that the legal validity of the plea will be evaluated after all counter-affidavits and subsequent rejoinders are formally submitted.
As part of procedural directives issued during the previous hearing, the court ordered its senior registrar to keep all paper-books and supporting documents submitted by the petitioner in a sealed cover, to be opened on July 20.
