In a major development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet in its money laundering probe related to the National Herald case, naming seven individuals including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The chargesheet, submitted on April 9 to a special PMLA court in Delhi, also includes Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey, Sunil Bhandari, Young Indian, and Dotex Merchandise Pvt Ltd. The court, overseen by Special Judge Vishal Gogne, acknowledged the filing and scheduled the case for April 25 to consider cognizance.
At the center of the probe is the allegation that Young Indian – where Sonia and Rahul are majority shareholders – acquired Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of the National Herald newspaper, for a nominal Rs 50 lakh, despite its assets being worth over Rs 2,000 crore. The ED has pegged the current market value of the properties linked to the case at around Rs 5,000 crore.
The Congress has denounced the chargesheet as “political vendetta.” Protests outside ED offices have been announced for Wednesday. Senior leaders like Abhishek Manu Singhvi, KC Venugopal, and Jairam Ramesh accused the government of misusing agencies to harass the Opposition ahead of elections.
The ED, however, maintains that the probe, launched after a complaint by Subramanian Swamy, found sufficient evidence of money laundering and misappropriation of assets. The court has directed that case files be properly documented and soft copies be submitted before the next hearing.
