Sonia, Rahul move SC to quash charges against them in National Herald case

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday moved the Supreme Court to quash charges against them in the National Herald case on Thursday.

The two top leaders of the party, along with other senior leaders had last year appeared in the Patiala Court for a hearing in the case. Senior advocates Harin Raval and Vivek Tankha filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday on behalf of the Gandhis.

According to sources, the Gandhis have challenged an earlier judgment of the Delhi high court and demanded quashing of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s complaint and the summons. The lawyers of the two leaders argued that the high court did not adopt the correct legal approach in dealing with their previous appeals.

The Gandhis have also argued that the allegations in the complaint (of Swami) did not merit a cheating case against



them.

The Congress leadership had turned the tables on the BJP over the case and made a major political mobilization in Delhi when in December the two leaders appeared before the Patiala house court. It was also for the first time that Sonia Gandhi had appeared in a court in connection to a complaint against her.

The complainant – Subramanian Swamy – has reportedly filed a caveat in the Supreme Court requesting it not to pass any order without hearing his arguments in the court.

The Congress leadership had maintained that there was nothing wrong in the party floating a non-profit company to acquire control over Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the holding company of National Herald.

The complaint alleged corruption in the assigning of loan worth Rs. 90.25 crore owed to the Congress by Associated Journals Limited (AJL), publisher of the National Herald, to YIL for Rs. 50 lakh.