Rahul, Sonia Gandhi get notice from Delhi court in National Herald money laundering case

A Delhi court on Friday issued notices to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in National Herald money laundering case. Special judge Vishal Gogne said their "right to be heard" was available at the time of cognisance of the chargesheet. "Right to be heard at any stage breaths life into fair trial," the judge said, posting the matter on May 8.

ED probe began in 2021
The ED, which filed its chargesheet recently, began its probe in 2021 after a magistrate court took cognisance of a private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian 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 (AJL).
Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul are majority shareholders of Young Indian with 38 percent shares held by each one of them. They were questioned for hours by the ED in this case a few years ago.

'Big conspiracy'
Leaders of the Congress party have accused the Centre of using the ED and other probe agencies to target political opponents.
"You must have noticed how, as part of a big conspiracy, the names of CPP Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi have been put in the chargesheet in the National Herald case," Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge recently said at a party meeting in Delhi. 

(With inputs from PTI).