A Delhi court Friday refused to issue notice to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case, asking the Enforcement Directorate to first fill the deficiencies in the chargesheet.
“I can’t pass such an order (issue notice) until satisfied,” said Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Court posting the matter on May 2 for cognizance of the chargesheet filed by the ED in this case.
On April 9, the Enforcement Directorate had filed a chargesheet against seven persons, including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, in connection with the case.
“It is also reported by the Ahlmad that after the checking of the file, certain documents are noticed to have not been filed or serialised appropriately. At this stage, Mr S V Raju, Ld ASG, appearing for the ED, has submitted that the investigating officers from the ED shall rectify any such deficiency,” said Judge Gogne in his order.
“Let the documents in question or the serialisation be provided/rectified prior to the next date of hearing,” he said.
The Central Probe agency had earlier served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore — in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow — that it had attached as part of the money laundering probe against Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which publishes the National Herald newspaper, and Young Indian, which owns it.
Sonia and Rahul are majority shareholders of Young Indian, which is under the ED scanner over allegations that it acquired AJL and its assets for “a mere Rs 50 lakh”, although the properties were valued at over Rs 2,000 crore, against an alleged loan extended by the Congress party.
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Both Sonia and Rahul were questioned in 2022 as part of the probe.
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