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Business News/ Home-page / National Herald case: Delhi HC allows trial of Sonia, Rahul Gandhi
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National Herald case: Delhi HC allows trial of Sonia, Rahul Gandhi

HC directs the Congress leaders and four others to appear before a trial court on Tuesday, dismissing their petitions to quash the summons

Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. The Congress said that it will be appealing the order in the Supreme Court. Photo: ReutersPremium
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. The Congress said that it will be appealing the order in the Supreme Court. Photo: Reuters

The Congress suffered a political jolt on Monday when the Delhi high court cleared the way for the trial of its president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, among others, in a case of alleged misappropriation of funds.

The ruling could potentially dent the efforts of the Congress to stitch together a united opposition to challenge the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), especially in the Rajya Sabha where the government is seeking to push through key bills like the constitution amendment bill to implement the goods and services tax in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.

The high court ruling came on a petition filed by the Gandhis seeking quashing of the summons issued by a trial court in a case of alleged misappropriation of party funds to take control of the National Herald newspaper.

The trial of the Gandhis, along with Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and party treasurer Motilal Vora, is set to begin on Tuesday in the Patiala trial courts in Delhi.

Of particular political concern to the Congress will be the directive in the order requiring all the accused to be personally present in court.

To be sure, the Congress said that it will be appealing the order in the Supreme Court.

“The plea stands dismissed," said justice Sunil Gaur, while pronouncing the verdict.

The 27-page order makes out allegations against the six office bearers of the Congress of “siphoning off the party funds in a clandestine manner".

Citing it to be a unique case, the order held that the freedom of a private citizen to look into cases of alleged corruption cannot be restricted.

The order on the long-pending question of legality of a loan assigned by Congress-owned Associated Journals Ltd, former publisher of the National Herald, to Young Indian Pvt. Ltd was reserved on 4 December by the court.

In a complaint, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy alleged that the party loaned 90 crore to Associated Journals and on 28 December 2010 it assigned this debt to Young Indian, a charitable company, for 50 lakh. This, according to him, amounted to breach of trust, cheating, fraud and misappropriation of funds.

Terming it “BJP's petty vendetta politics", the Congress said that it will take all “legal recourses and avenues" available.

“These things are subjective... We have an open-and-shut case. There have been several legal deficiencies. We have unassailable arguments", party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, a lawyer, told reporters.

“Indian National Congress does not view the judgment pronounced by Hon'ble Delhi High Court today in National Herald case as a setback as is being represented in a section of the media. In the long course of its political journey, Congress Party has faced many such cases sponsored by its political opponents," Randeep Surjewala, chief spokesperson of the Congress, said in an official release.

The BJP, the principal rival of the Congress, welcomed the order.

“This is what happens when you buy such a huge property for a pittance. Law is taking its own course. They (Gandhis) had also gone to the court. Law is equal to the common man and Sonia Gandhi. They cannot hide from it," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters.

Calling it a matter of great public importance, Swamy claimed the transfer was a case of “collusion and an obvious conspiracy" to defraud the public. On 4 December, Swamy highlighted the order of the magistrate summoning the six leaders on 26 June 2014 and said the offences were made out after careful analysis by the magistrate.

Associated Journals had in earlier hearings told the court that the 90 crore loan had been extended to Young Indian in order to revive the defunct National Herald.

Swamy argued that the transfer was undertaken to secure benefits from the government, including land at concessional rates.

“They took land from the government on the promise that they will publish (a) newspaper and then they go and do the opposite of that." Swamy told the court in the last hearing.

The trial court had summoned the six leaders to appear before it on 7 August 2014.

However, the accused moved the high court on 30 July 2014 and secured a stay on the summons till a final disposal of the petitions.

“One way of seeing it is that the Congress party is leading the opposition’s charge and they may just use this moment for a sympathy appeal, projecting it as the BJP trying to corner the Congress," said Badri Narayan, a political analyst and professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

“Another aspect is that this episode is seen as driving home the point that the Congress is corrupt or its top leadership is involved in corruption charges, but those allegations are being made for three years now," he said. “The BJP will definitely try to use this opportunity to tarnish the image of the Congress party but overdoing it may not work well. The Congress party has politically lost so much in the past few years that there is nothing more to lose now."

PTI contributed to this story.

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Published: 07 Dec 2015, 05:35 PM IST
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