Mumbai, Feb 6 (IANS): A Mumbai court on Thursday summoned Congress MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi to appear before it in a defamation case filed by a BJP leader for his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Mazagaon 25th Magistrate Court has directed Rahul to appear before it on February 15 either in person or through a pleader to reply to charges under Indian Penal Code Sec. 499, 500.

The defamation case was filed in September 2018 against the Congress leader by a Mumbai BJP activist Mahesh H. Shrishrimal of Girgaum and earlier, the Congress leader was summoned in August 2019.

Among other things, the complainant has contended that Rahul's utterances made on September 20, 2018 not only sought to defame Modi but also hurt the sentiments of his supporters.

Shrishrimal also submitted tapes of Gandhi's speeches and news media articles of that time to the court with the comments, "Commander in Thief", referring to Modi, and said this had defamed the PM and the BJP.

On a September 24, 2018 tweet pertaining to a defence-related matter, Gandhi had posted a video with a caption: "The sad truth about India's Commander in Thief".