National Herald Case: Delhi Court Seeks Further Clarifications From ED, Calls IO With Case File

money laundering case

The Rouse Avenue Court, hearing the National Herald money laundering case, directed the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation officer to appear with the case file on September 26.

The court may then decide on the issue of cognisance of the prosecution complaint filed by the ED against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others.

Court Proceedings & Submissions

Special Judge Vishal Gogne heard brief arguments from senior counsel representing Dotex Merchandise Pvt. Ltd. and sought further clarifications from the ED. The counsel for proposed accused Suman Dubey also filed written submissions during the hearing.

Special Public Prosecutor N.K. Matta appeared in person before the court. Earlier, on September 6, the ED had submitted copies of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and a complaint originally filed in 2014 by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.

Senior Counsel Pramod Kumar Dubey, representing Dotex Merchandise, argued that his client’s name does not appear in either the ECIR or Swamy’s complaint.

Documents Filed By ED

On September 6, the ED officially filed two key documents—the 2014 complaint by Subramanian Swamy and the ECIR registered on June 30, 2021—in connection with the case. During an earlier hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, appearing via video conferencing, had said the ED was not opposed to sharing these documents with the accused but wanted to do so through a formal application.

The court observed that it had earlier sought clarification on why these two documents, available with the ED, were not attached to the prosecution complaint.

Case Background

The ED has filed a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) naming Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, Sunil Bhandari, Young Indian, and Dotex Merchandise. The case relates to allegations that Young Indian Pvt. Ltd. acquired the right to recover a Rs. 90 crore loan from Associated Journals Limited (AJL) by paying just Rs. 50 lakh to the Congress party.

According to the ED, the accused allegedly took over AJL fraudulently, even though AJL’s assets are estimated at Rs. 2,000 crore.

Court’s Earlier Observations

On July 29, the Rouse Avenue Court had deferred its order on cognisance of the ED’s charge sheet, raising several queries from the case file. Earlier, on July 14, the court had also reserved its order after hearing arguments from both the ED and the accused.