New Delhi, April 15: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first chargesheet in the high-profile National Herald money laundering case, naming senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Sam Pitroda, among others.
The chargesheet has been submitted to the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi, which is scheduled to hear arguments on April 25. In response to the chargesheet, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh lashed out at the government, accusing it of misusing central agencies for political gain.
“Seizing the assets of the National Herald is a state-sponsored crime masquerading as the rule of law. Filing chargesheets against Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and some others is nothing but the politics of vendetta and intimidation by the PM and the HM gone completely berserk. The INC and its leadership will not be silenced. Satyameva Jayate,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
The ED’s case results from a 2014 complaint by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who alleged a criminal conspiracy involving the fraudulent acquisition of properties worth over Rs 2,000 crore belonging to the Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of the now-defunct National Herald newspaper.
The ED claims that the accused, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, used a private company, Young Indian, to acquire AJL’s assets at a nominal price of Rs 50 lakh. The agency claims that Young Indian, beneficially owned by the Gandhis, effectively took control of AJL’s properties while undervaluing their market worth.
The ED’s probe officially began in 2021, after courts allowed the investigation to move forward despite multiple legal challenges. In November 2023, the agency attached immovable properties valued at Rs 661 crore and AJL shares worth Rs 90.2 crore, terming them suspected proceeds of crime. The total value of the alleged proceeds in the case stands at Rs 988 crore.
IANS