National Herald case—BJP in no mood to let go of charges against Sonia, Rahul

Dismissing assertions that the long-running National Herald case against Congress leaders—Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi—is over, the ruling BJP is not in any mood to let go of it. Sources, in fact, say that the Enforcement Directorate may soon get a stay on the court order and may not have to release the multi-crore National Herald property it had seized.

A day after a Delhi court declined to take cognisance of the ED’s prosecution complaint in the case, Congress leadership intensified its attack against the BJP-led Centre, with party president Mallikarjun Kharge calling it a “slap on the faces” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

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“This case was the outcome of a political vendetta. It was mounted to harass the Gandhi family. After this judgment, Modi and Shah should resign. This is a slap on their faces, truth has prevailed,” Kharge told mediapersons.

The ruling BJP, in turn, sharpened its attack, with party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accusing the Gandhi family of being “the most corrupt family in politics.” Alleging that nearly Rs 2,000 crore were misappropriated, he also dismissed Congress’ claims of “political vendetta.”

Bhatia accused Kharge of “misleading the public by portraying the court’s decision as a clean chit,” arguing that the order was based on legal and technical grounds, not on the merits of the allegations. “If there is anyone in politics who is most corrupt, it is the Gandhi family,” he said, adding that despite approaching courts multiple times, the Gandhis had not received any legal relief.

According to the BJP leader, proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) could not continue without a registered FIR for the scheduled offence, but that did not stop other agencies from continuing their probe.

Earlier, a Delhi court refused to take cognisance of the ED’s prosecution complaint in the National Herald case, stating that PMLA proceedings are not maintainable since the case was based on a private complaint filed by Subramanian Swamy before a magistrate and not an FIR.

It was what read as “relief” for Gandhis, however, BJP IT cell in charge Amit Malviya called it a “misleading headline and assertion” as there was ”no relief”.

According to Malviya, the court “opined that since the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has now registered an FIR in the matter, the ED can make further submissions in that case, and not in the one based on the complaint filed by Subramanian Swamy before a magistrate. The FIR makes the ED’s submissions under the PMLA maintainable and procedurally tenable”.

“Basically, the court refused to take cognisance of the ED’s prosecution complaint, citing procedural lapses, including the absence of a predicate FIR for the scheduled offence under the PMLA,” the BJP leaders argue. The case stems from allegations that the Gandhis and associates used Young Indian Pvt Ltd to acquire control of AJL—the publisher of the National Herald—at undervalued rates involving Rs 90 crore in loans.