Lucknow, March 19 The Allahabad High Court heard a case regarding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's citizenship on Thursday and directed the petitioner to include the Centre as a party in the matter.
As soon as the hearing began, senior advocate S B Pandey, representing the Centre, requested the judge not to conduct the hearing in open court, as the documents received from the home ministry were of a highly confidential nature.
A bench of Justice Rajiv Singh accepted the request and heard the case in the chamber.
Following the hearing, the Lucknow bench of the court ordered the under secretary in the home ministry, Vivek Mishra, and Assistant Section Officer Pranav Rai to appear before it with the relevant records.
The court reviewed the records and returned them to the under secretary.
The court allowed petitioner S Vignesh Shishir to include the Centre as a party in the case.
However, it rejected the petitioner's request to list the case as "part heard", stating that the matter is still at the admission stage.
The next hearing in the matter will be held on April 6.
The petition has been filed by Shishir, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker from Karnataka.
The petitioner is challenging the January 28 order of the Special MP-MLA Court in Lucknow that dismissed his application for an FIR against the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The petitioner has demanded the registration of an FIR against Gandhi and a thorough investigation into the matter. He has levelled serious allegations against the Congress leader under various legal provisions.