New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Parliament Rahul Gandhi has claimed that Vinayak Savarkar was related to Nathuram Godse, the man who killed Mahatma Gandhi. He made the claim in an affidavit filed in a Pune court after Savarkar’s grandnephew sued Rahul for defamation. He has accused Satyaki Savarkar of deliberately hiding his maternal lineage linking him to Godse.
Satyaki Savarkar has filed a complaint against Gandhi for an address in London in March 2023 in which the latter allegedly claimed that Savarkar wrote in a book that he and some of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and felt happy. Satyaki dismissed the claim and called Gandhi’s allegation false and malicious.
In his complaint against Gandhi, Satyaki Savarkar said he is a grandson of Savarkar’s brother Narayan Savarkar. In his affidavit, Gandhi claimed, “As per information, mother of complainant Smt. Himani Ashok Savarkar was born on 31/03/1947 and died on 11/10/2015 at Pune. Late Smt. Himani Ashok Savarkar is daughter of Gopal Vinayak Godse, younger brother of Nathuram Vinayak Godse, who killed father of nation Mahatma Gandhi on 30/01/1948 and was hanged along with his accomplice Narayan Apte On 15/11/1949.” It says Himani Savarkar was a Hindutva activist and married to Ashok Savarkar, Vinayak Savarkar’s nephew.
It also said, “The grandfather of complainant Gopal Godse was also convicted accused in murder of Mahatma Gandhi. These are the historical(ly) important facts and movements behind this case.” It further stated, “That it is the settled position and principle in law if a party does not come to the court with clean hands, they are not entitled to be heard or granted any type of relief. This principle serves to protect the integrity of the judicial process from unscrupulous litigants.”
The affidavit accused the complainant of intentionally hiding information and said, “That suppression or concealment of material fact from the court is a serious issue, considered as a fraud on the court, and can lead to dismissal of a case or denial of relief. Suppressing material facts means intentionally withholding or misrepresenting information that is relevant to a legal case.”
Moreover, the affidavit said, “Savarkar family and Godse family are in blood relation. When both families are having history, which will decide the contribution, reputation, status and image in the country of both the families,” and accused Satyaki Savarkar of giving only the family tree for his paternal side, and not the maternal side, and it allegedly done to mislead the court.
