Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday pleaded not guilty in a court in Maharashtra's Pune district in a defamation case pertaining to his comments on Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, reported the PTI.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) and Special Judge (MP/MLA court) Amol Sriram Shinde read out the charge, levelled by Satyaki Savarkar, a grandnephew of V D Savarkar, to which Rahul Gandhi pleaded not guilty through his lawyer Milind Pawar, according to the PTI.

The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha was not present in the court and his lawyer Milind Pawar pleaded not guilty on his behalf before the court.