The Allahabad High Court's Lucknow Bench has directed the registration of an FIR and a formal police investigation against Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, in a petition filed by Karnataka-based BJP worker Vignesh Shishir over allegations that Gandhi holds British citizenship. Justice Subhash Vidyarthi passed the order, setting aside a Lucknow trial court's earlier refusal to act, a ruling that now places one of India's most prominent opposition leaders under direct law enforcement scrutiny ahead of a detailed order yet to be released.
The controversy has its roots in a UK-registered company, M/S Backops Ltd., incorporated in August 2003, in which Gandhi was listed as a director. Shishir contended before the High Court that Gandhi had explicitly declared his nationality as British in the company's annual returns filed in October 2005 and October 2006, and that a Director Identification record linked Gandhi to addresses in London and Hampshire. The company was subsequently dissolved via a dissolution application in February 2009.
Shishir further pointed out that Gandhi had disclosed ownership of this company and a Barclays Bank London account in his 2004 Lok Sabha election affidavit, a self-disclosure the petitioner argued amounted to a voluntary admission of foreign nationality. On this basis, Shishir sought an FIR under multiple statutes including the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Foreigners Act, the Passport Act, and the Official Secrets Act. An ACJM Court in Lucknow rejected the plea in January 2025, prompting Shishir to escalate the matter to the High Court.
Justice Subhash Vidyarthi, after examining the petition, found sufficient grounds to override the trial court's refusal, holding that the material placed on record, including the corporate filings and the petitioner's specific allegations of British nationality, warranted both the registration of an FIR and a formal investigation.
While the detailed reasoning is awaited in the full order, the operative direction from the bench was unambiguous: the Lucknow court's refusal order stood quashed, and authorities were directed to lodge an FIR and investigate the allegations against Gandhi under the invoked statutory provisions. The court's intervention signals a judicial finding that the threshold for initiating a criminal inquiry had been met and could not be administratively sidestepped.
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