Delhi court reserves order on taking cognisance of ED chargesheet in National Herald case
Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Court said that the verdict will be pronounced on July 29.
The Enforcement Directorate has accused Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others of wanting to siphon off Rs 2,000 crore from Associated Journals Limited, the company that once published the National Herald.
The central agency, which is looking into money-laundering allegations linked to the case, alleged a conspiracy to form a holding company, Young Indian Private Limited, to illegally take over the Associated Journals Limited's assets.
This was done through 'fake transactions' in which several Congress leaders were involved and a Rs 90 crore loan to the company from the party, the Enforcement Directorate added.
Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders of Young Indian, and hold 38% of its shares each.
The Enforcement Directorate filed its chargesheet in the matter on April 9. This came after the central agency's move to seize properties worth Rs 661 crore linked to the case in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow.
Besides the Gandhis, the central agency also listed Congress leaders Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and Young Indian in its chargesheet.
The allegations
In April 2008, the National Herald, which was founded and edited by Jawaharlal Nehru before he became India's first prime minister, suspended operations as it had incurred a debt of over Rs 90 crore.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint against the newspaper in 2012, alleging that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi set up Young Indian to buy the debt using the funds from the party.
Swamy alleged that Young Indian paid only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.2 crore that the Associated Journals Limited owed to the Congress.
The Congress has claimed that there was no money exchange, and that only debt was converted into equity to pay off certain dues including employee salaries.
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