Delhi court summons Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in National Herald case

A Delhi court has sent summons to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi to appear in court on August 7 in the National Herald case.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a petition against top Congress leaders accusing that Congress gave an unsecured loan worth Rs 2000 crore to Sonia-owned Young Indian Ltd to buy National Herald’s holding company Associated Journals.

The court also summoned congress leaders including Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandez, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda in this case.

While pronouncing the order, the judge said, “From the complaint and evidence led so far it appears YI (Young Indian) was in fact created as a sham or a cloak to convert public money to personal use or as a special purpose vehicle for acquiring control over Rs 2000 crore worth of assets.”

“Complainant has established a prima facie case against the accused under section 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property, 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) read with section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC…Hence, let the accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Moti Lal Vohra, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda be summoned for August 7, 2014. Let the Young Indian be summoned through it’s authorised representative for the same date,” ” Metropolitan magistrate Gomati Manocha said.

Subramanian Swamy alleged that Sonia Gandhi had committed a serious crime and she could be sent to jail.

“There was a serious breach of trust. If proven guilty, she could be jailed for 7 years,” Swamy said adding, “They will have to face trial. They have been summoned as accused. There is prima facie evidence against them.”

Congress rejected Swamy’s accusation and said it was motivated.

Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “Dr Swamy is known for his personal, motivated campaign against the Congress and you can take it that as and when we receive the papers and take the full legal advice a very vigorous response will be filed in respect of this completely false and motivated complaint.”

“Issuance of process over a stale complaint made a year ago is not something to be excited about. Let’s seek comprehensive legal advice and you will see how all allegations are legally demolished,” he added.

(Input from CNN-IBN)

• About the Author

About Sprightly Spirit

“I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares more is none”. And all, may be. It may be the vigor. Or the spirit. Or the courage to avoid being “politically correct” or bent. And, ban all averse with immaculate overture of graciously fathomable words firm in views. Subtle. Justifying the undying conscience. Values. Knowledge. And, dares to stay true. True to own. True to the world. And, to the words. With a dream in eyes it exists. In you. In me. In all. The sprite that never shies away. The spirit that never dies!