In the National Herald case, the sword seems to be hanging over Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. On Wednesday, ED has argued in the Delhi court that a prima facie case is made against both the Congress leaders in the case. ED put forth these arguments before Special Judge Vishal Gogne.
In this case, the judge has directed that ED should provide a copy of its charge-sheet to BJP leader Subramanian Swamy because this entire case was registered on the basis of his complaint. ED launched the investigation in this case in 2021 by filing a chargesheet. The matter was taken into cognizance in 2014 on a personal complaint from Subramanian Swamy.
Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are trapped in the National Herald money laundering case. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the ED, said that the accused continued to enjoy this illegally earned income for many years. They continued to enjoy it until the ED seized assets worth Rs 751.9 crore related to National Herald in November 2023.
Hearing will be held daily from 2 to 8 July
During the hearing in the court today, the lawyer of the accused said that the charge sheet is full of documents. It will take time to read it. The ED opposed the argument of the accused and demanded an early hearing. The court said that the hearing in this case will be held daily from 2 to 8 July.
What is the National Herald case
The National Herald newspaper was started in 1938. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and others together started it to support India's freedom movement. It was published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL), a non-profit company formed in 1937. The company also published the newspapers Qaumi Awaz (Urdu) and Navjivan (Hindi). In 2008, AJL stopped publishing the National Herald and its sister publications due to financial difficulties including heavy debt.