India, Aug. 14 -- In a dramatic turn in the Savarkar defamation case, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's lawyer on Thursday withdrew a plea from a Pune court that claimed the parliamentarian faced threats from followers of Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Advocate Milind Pawar, representing Gandhi in the case, confirmed that the court had accepted the withdrawal. The move came just a day after Pawar filed the plea, later stating it was done without Gandhi's consent.

Pawar, in a late Wednesday press release, said Gandhi had taken "strong exception" to the filing and disagreed with its contents. The plea, filed earlier that day, alleged that complainant Satyaki Savarkar-grand-nephew of V D Savarkar-had acknowledged being a descendant,...