According to Swamy, the Congress leaders misused their powers to take control of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which owns the National Herald newspaper, and transferred assets worth over Rs. 2,000 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first chargesheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and Sam Pitroda, the head of the party’s overseas unit, in connection with the alleged money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper.
A special court has fixed April 25 as the date for the next hearing in the matter.
“The present prosecution complaint shall next be taken up for consideration, on the aspect of cognisance… when Special Counsel for the ED and the Investigating Officer shall also ensure production of the case diaries for perusal by the court,” said Special Judge Vishal Gogne during the proceedings.
This is the first time a chargesheet has been filed against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in this case.
On the previous Saturday, the ED had issued notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs. 661 crore. These assets had been attached in November 2023 as part of the investigation.
The properties include National Herald House on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in Delhi, another property in Mumbai’s Bandra, and the AJL building on Bisheshwar Nath Road in Lucknow.
The notices were put up at these sites, asking for vacation of the premises.
Background
The ED began its investigation in 2021, based on a 2014 order by Delhi’s Patiala House Court. The court was responding to a private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.
Swamy had alleged a criminal conspiracy involving top Congress leaders—including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others—as well as a company named Young Indian Pvt Ltd.
According to Swamy, the Congress leaders misused their powers to take control of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which owns the National Herald newspaper, and transferred assets worth over Rs. 2,000 crore.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders in Young Indian Pvt Ltd, which now owns AJL. Both hold 38% shares each in the company.
Interestingly, on the same day the chargesheet was filed, the ED also questioned Robert Vadra, the husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the brother-in-law of Rahul Gandhi.
He was questioned in a money laundering case linked to a land deal in Haryana.
When he arrived for questioning, Congress supporters chanted:
“jab Modi darta hai, ED ko aage karta hai”
which translates to:
“whenever Modi is scared, he calls on the ED”.
Dismissing the allegations, Robert Vadra called the case a:
“political vendetta”
In his private criminal complaint before the trial court, Swamy accused the Gandhis and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by paying only Rs 50 lakh. This payment allowed Young Indian Private Limited (YI) to acquire the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that Associate Journals Limited, the publisher of the “National Herald” newspaper, owed to the Congress.
All seven accused in the case the Gandhis, AICC treasurer Motilal Vora, Fernandes, Dubey, Pitroda, and Young India (YI) denied the allegations.
Following Vora’s death, the proceedings against him were terminated, while the other accused were summoned by the trial court in 2014 on charges of property misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, and cheating.
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