Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday sought discharge from a criminal defamation case filed against him by the Ahmedabad District Cooperative (ADC) Bank on the grounds of continuous absence of the complainant.
The court had rejected two applications filed by bank chairman Ajay Patel, the complainant, seeking exemption from appearance and adjournment of the hearing, said Gandhi's lawyer P S Champaneri.
Patel did not attend the hearing on several occasions, the lawyer claimed.
After Patel's pleas were rejected, Gandhi's lawyer moved the application for discharge before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S P Dulera.
"The effect of the rejection of these two applications leads to relieving of the accused from the case. So we moved discharge application under the Code of Criminal Procedure," advocate Champaneri said.
The court will hear Gandhi's application on February 11.
The ADC Bank and Patel dragged Gandhi to the court over the Congress leader's allegation that the bank was involved in a scam as it swapped scrapped notes of ₹750 crore with valid currency within five days of demonetization in 2016.