Ahmedabad, Apr 8 (IANS): The Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court on Monday issued summons to Congress President Rahul Gandhi and party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala following a criminal defamation suit filed by the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank for their public statements about illegal deposits after demonetization.

The Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank, which was once led by BJP President Amit Shah and its Chairman Ajay Patel, had last year filed two separate cases against the two Congress leaders under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with punishment for criminal defamation.

Rahul Gandhi had tweeted #ShahZyadaKhaGaya and Surjewala had held a press conference on June 22 last year alleging that the bank, which according to them had links with Shah, was involved in a scam of Rs 750 crore after demonetization.

The Congress leaders had claimed that huge amounts of cash had been deposited in a hurry in the cooperative bank in just five days after the Centre decided to demonetize high-value currency notes in November 2016.

The bank and its Chairman claimed that the statements calling them as 'scamsters' had damaged the bank's reputation and affected future deposits in the bank.

The court asked both the leaders to remain present in the court on May 27.