Delhi court defers hearing in National Herald case against Sonia, Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday deferred the hearing in the National Herald money laundering case involving Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to May 21 and 22.

Special judge Vishal Gogne, after hearing the submissions of the Enforcement Directorate, noted that notices had been served upon all proposed accused persons in terms of its previous order.

The judge, however, said, "Since the notice has purportedly been served upon an alternative email ID upon the proposed accused 4 (Sam Pitroda) only today, it is appropriate that submissions on the aspect of cognisance are heard on the next date of hearing."

The judge posted the hearings on May 21 and 22.

"Subramanian Swamy, who is the complainant in the proceedings relating to the predicate offence, has mentioned his presence and submitted that an application for being supplied with a copy of the present complaint and documents shall be moved by him in due course," the court added.

On May 2, the court issued notices to the Gandhis.

It also issued notice to Congress leader Pitroda and Suman Dubey, and "Young Indian", Dotex Merchandise Pvt Ltd and Sunil Bhandari.

The judge said that their "right to be heard" was available at the time of cognisance of the chargesheet.

"Right to be heard at any stage breathes life into fair trial," the judge had previously said.

The chargesheet in the matter was filed under Sections 3 (money laundering) and 4 (punishment for money laundering) of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED, which filed its chargesheet recently, began its probe in 2021 after a magistrate court took cognisance of a private complaint filed by Swamy on June 26, 2014.

The complaint, the ED said, highlighted a "criminal conspiracy" by several prominent political figures, including the first family of the Congress party led by Sonia, her MP son Rahul, late Congress leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes aside from Dubey, Pitroda and a private company Young Indian for their alleged involvement in money laundering in relation to the fraudulent takeover of properties valued over Rs 2,000 crore belonging to the Associated Journals Limited.

The Gandhis are majority shareholders of Young Indian with 38 per cent shares held by each one of them. They were questioned for hours by the ED in this case a few years ago.