India, Aug. 15 -- A Pune court on Friday rejected professor Pankaj K Phadnis's application to intervene in the private criminal defamation case filed by Satyaki Savarkar against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over alleged remarks concerning freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Judicial Magistrate First Class Amol Shriram Shinde held that Phadnis had no legal right or locus standi to participate in the proceedings and directed him to pay Rs.20,000 in costs to the District Legal Services Authority, Pune.

In its August 14 order, the court noted that the complainant's cross-examination was already underway and that the intervention plea had consumed valuable judicial time.

Phadnis had sought to intervene citing more than 25 years of res...