Pune, July 12 -- Congress Member of Parliament and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday pleaded not guilty in a defamation case filed against him over his remarks about Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar. The plea was formally recorded on Gandhi's behalf by his counsel Advocate Milind Pawar in the Special MP-MLA court as Gandhi was not personally present for the hearing. The proceedings took place before the Judicial Magistrate (First Class) and Special Judge for MP-MLA cases Amol Shinde where he read out the charges against Gandhi in open court, following which Advocate Pawar submitted a not guilty plea on Gandhi's behalf. "The matter about the defamation case against Gandhi was fixed for recording of plea. Today, I approached the court moving an application for permission to record the plea on behalf of my client. The court allowed the application and on behalf of Gandhi, I pleaded not guilty before the court," advocate Pawar said. The case was filed as a private criminal defamation complaint under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of VD Savarkar. The complaint stems from remarks made by Gandhi during a speech in London in March 2023. In his address, Gandhi allegedly claimed that Savarkar had written about an incident in which he and some of his friends assaulted a Muslim man and felt elated about it. The statement caused considerable controversy. In his complaint, has denied the existence of such a passage in any of Savarkar's writings and has termed Gandhi's remarks as "false, misleading, and defamatory." Advocate Sangram Kolhatkar representing the complainant confirmed that the plea of the accused had been recorded and the case will now proceed to the trial stage. "With the plea recording completed, the court will now move forward with the trial," Kolhatkar said. The next date of hearing has been scheduled for July 29. Before the plea recording, Advocate Pawar filed an application before the court under Section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), seeking an exemption for Gandhi from appearing personally in court to record his plea under Section 251 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). "The application is filed bona fide and in the interest of justice to ensure the fair and efficient progress of trial," the plea stated. After hearing the arguments, the court exempted Gandhi from personal appearance for the plea recording....