CBI probe initiated on Rahul Gandhi's citizenship issue

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court was informed on Wednesday that a CBI probe had been initiated into Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's citizenship on a PIL being heard by the Allahabad High Court .

When the petitioner, a Karnataka BJP worker, said he had moved a PIL in the Allahabad High Court, a bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said it didn't want any conflicting orders to be passed.

There cannot be two parallel petitions on the same cause of action, said the bench, permitting S Vignesh Shishir to file an affidavit on the relevant developments following his PIL in the Allahabad High Court.

The matter before the Delhi High Court was on a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who sought directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to decide his representation seeking cancellation of Gandhi's Indian citizenship.

Swamy, in his plea, also sought a direction to the MHA to furnish a status report on the representation filed by him against Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

While Swamy maintained that the matter before the Allahabad High Court had nothing to do with his case and the prayers were totally different, Shishir claimed Swamy's plea had led to multiplicity and parallel proceedings.

The court asked Shishir to file an application for impleadment in the petition before it and listed the matter on December 6.

During the hearing, Shishir submitted his petition was last heard by the Allahabad High Court on October 24 and the matter was under investigation by the CBI.

According to Shishir, the matter was before the Allahabad High Court at a "very advanced stage".

"I also appeared before the CBI in this case and tendered my very confidential evidence with regard to this matter. The matter is currently under investigation by the CBI," he submitted.

"Various investigating agencies of the country are conducting the investigation. I have given my objections to the Delhi High Court registrar through an email," added Shishir. The bench subsequently remarked that the documents were required to be filed through the court registry and not an email.

Swamy differentiated between the two petitions, submitting while Shishir's plea sought initiation of criminal prosecution, his petition only said Gandhi was not a citizen of India but a "citizen of Britain".

"Don't be parasitical and say the prayers are similar and hang on to us. It is clear he cannot be a citizen of two countries, we have proved it through the documents where he claims to be a citizen of Britain as well as of India," Swamy contended.

The bench, however, noted, "The prayers in that petition are too wide. So let him (Shishir) file the documents which he wants." Following a previous Delhi High Court order, Swamy had filed a copy of the petition pending before the Allahabad High Court on the issue of Gandhi's citizenship.

Swamy's plea, filed by advocate Satya Sabharwal, said on August 6, 2019, a letter was sent to the ministry alleging Gandhi had "voluntarily disclosed" to the British government that he was a citizen of British nationality, amounting to holding a British passport.

Earlier, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had asked the Centre whether it had taken any decision on Shishir's representation filed under the Citizenship Act, 1955, asking it to inquire into the allegations.

Shishir claimed he had conducted "detailed enquiries" into Gandhi being a British citizen and received several new inputs.

Swamy, on the other hand, claimed the Congress leader, being an Indian citizen, violated Article 9 of the Constitution, read with the Indian Citizenship Act, and would cease to be an Indian citizen He said he had sent many representations to the ministry inquiring about the status of his complaint but neither any action was taken nor did he receive any intimation.