Sonia Gandhi case: Relief for Sonia Gandhi in National Herald case, Court refuses to take cognizance of ED charge sheet
- A big relief for the Gandhi family in the National Herald case
- Refusal to take cognizance of charge sheet filed by ED
- Chargesheet filed under PMLA against other accused
National Herald Case News Marathi: The Gandhi family has got a big relief in the National Herald case. Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has refused to take cognizance of the charge sheet filed. The decision is seen as an important legal victory for Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
On April 9, the ED filed a chargesheet under the PMLA against the Gandhi family and other accused. The decision was taken at the Special MP/MP Court in Rouse Avenue Court. In November 2025, the ED informed the Delhi Police under Section 66(2) of the PMLA and based on that information, the EOW of the police filed a fresh FIR against Sonia, Rahul and others on 3 October 2025 (sections 420, 406, 403 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code: cheating, treachery and conspiracy).
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What is the National Herald case?
National Herald case It has become the source of a major political and legal controversy in India. It started in 2012 with a complaint by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. Among them was Associated Journals Limited (AJL), a company that ran the National Herald newspaper (founded by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1938). AJL was burdened with debt and the Congress party gave them an interest-free loan of ₹90.25 crore.
This loan was later transferred to a company called Young Indian Private Limited (YIL) for a mere ₹50 lakhs, through which YIL gained control of AJL’s assets (Delhi, Mumbai etc.) worth billions of rupees. The ED alleged that it was a conspiracy involving usurpation of government property for personal gain, cheating, betrayal and money laundering.
The charge sheet names many prominent persons
ED has named Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey, Sunil Bhandari, Young Indian and Dotex Merchandise Private Limited in the charge sheet. The Congress party argued that the ED inquiry was motivated by political vendetta, while the ED claimed that it was a serious financial crime in which evidence of fraud and money laundering was found.
What were the charges?
The ED alleged that the Congress leaders conspired to buy the ₹2,000 crore assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) for just ₹50 lakh through a private company called “Young Indian”. Sonia and Rahul hold 76% shares of the company. The “proceeds of crime” in this case amounted to ₹988 crore. The market value of the respective assets is ₹5,000 crore.
Proceedings of confiscation of property prior to indictment
On 12 April 2025, confiscation action was taken against the assets seized during the investigation. The ED served notices at AJL’s premises at Herald House (5A, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg) in Delhi, Bandra (East) in Mumbai and Vishweshwar Nath Road in Lucknow. Apart from this immovable property worth Rs 661 crore, the ED also seized shares of AJL worth ₹90.2 crore in November 2023 to secure the crime proceeds and prevent the accused from liquidating them.
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