The Modi 3.0 has taken the battle to next stage. After electoral wins in Haryana, Delhi and Maharashtra and close on a crystal clear victory in Parliament on Waqf Bill, things have turned more political.
The National Herald was a newspaper founded by Congress stalwart Jawaharlal Nehru along with other freedom fighters in 1938. It was meant to voice the concerns of the liberal brigade in Congress.
The Enforcement Directorate permanently attached properties worth Rs. 64 crore in the National Herald Case in May 2019. The Enforcement Directorate attached properties worth Rs. 751.9 crore in the National Herald Case in November 2023.
Published by AJL, the newspaper became a mouthpiece of the party after independence in 1947. AJL also published two other newspapers, one each in Hindi and Urdu. In 2008, the paper closed down with a debt of over Rs 90 crore.
The ED filed a chargesheet against Congress MPs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Indian Overseas Congress chief Sam Pitroda and a few others in the alleged National Herald money laundering case.
Congress as expected plays victim card and calls ED chargesheet 'vendetta politics', says won't be silenced
Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul 'involved' in fraudulent takeover of AJL's assets worth Rs 2,000 crore
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against Congress MPs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in connection with the alleged National Herald money laundering case.
The chargesheet filed before Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court also names Indian Overseas Congress chief Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey and others.
The court will hear the matter on April 25.
In May 2024, Rahul Gandhi said that during the ED interrogation, he saw a lockup. "I was thinking that my great-grandfather (Jawaharlal Nehru) had been sitting in a similar cell for 12 years, I should also go for at least 10 years,".
On April 11, the ED issued notices to property registrars in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow, where the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) - acquired by Young Indian Limited (YIL), a company beneficially owned by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi - are located.
The attachment follows investigations that revealed the alleged laundering of proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 988 crore, linked to AJL's assets. The proceedings were initiated after an Adjudicating Authority recently confirmed the earlier provisional attachment of the properties.
According to the ED, the AJL-YIL network was allegedly used to generate illicit funds of Rs 18 crore through bogus donations, advance rent of Rs 38 crore, and Rs 29 through advertisements.
The ED's probe, which formally began in 2021, stems from a complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in 2014 before a Delhi court.
The complaint accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders of orchestrating a fraudulent takeover of AJL's properties - estimated to be worth over Rs 2,000 crore - through YIL for a nominal sum of Rs 50 lakh.
Despite legal challenges, both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court allowed the investigation to proceed.
During the probe, the ED conducted searches and seizures at multiple locations and claimed to have uncovered documents pointing to additional layers of financial irregularities.
The probe agency has seized assets worth Rs 751.9 crore in an investigation against Congress-linked companies Associated Journals Limited, and Young Indian.
AJL had to repay a loan of Rs 90.21 crore to the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
However, AICC treated the said loan of Rs 90.21 crore as non-recoverable from AJL and sold it for Rs 50 lakh to a newly incorporated company, Young Indian, without any source of income to pay even Rs 50 lakh.
By their action, the shareholders of AJL as well as donors of Congress were cheated by the office bearers of AJL and Congress, the court had said.
According to the ED's investigation, after purchasing the loan of Rs 90.21 crore from AICC, Young Indian demanded either repayment of the loan or allotment of equity shares of AJL to it.
The Congress reacted to the development calling it "vendetta politics".
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| Sonia, Manmohan Singh and Ghulam Nabi Azad - 2015 |
Backgrounder:
In December 2015, the mother-son duo were granted bail after a 'few minutes' hearing.
Both the Congress stalwarts denied misusing party funds to buy a firm that published the now-closed National Herald newspaper.
The case was brought by senior BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy. The headline-hunting Dr Swamy ( also a former Law Minister) said the Gandhis took over the company AJL to try to acquire huge real estate property assets.
"The current government (under Modi) is deliberately targeting its opposition," Sonia Gandhi had said in 2015 after obtaining bail for both.
Even former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, now deceased, was among the Congress leaders present in court premises in 2015 to support Gandhis.
Sonia Gandhi, born in Italy, is the widow of former PM Rajiv Gandhi. His mother Indira - assassinated while in office in 1984 - and grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru had served as prime minister. Sonia was Congress president for long and even her son inherited the coveted office.
Now he is Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha.
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