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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  National Herald case accused oppose Subramanian Swamy’s plea
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National Herald case accused oppose Subramanian Swamy’s plea

Appearing for Young Indian Pvt. Ltd and other accused, Kapil Sibal argues that documents sought by BJP leader are irrelevant to the case

A file photo of the Delhi High Court. Photo: MintPremium
A file photo of the Delhi High Court. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: Young Indian Pvt. Ltd (YI) and others accused in the National Herald case opposed on Monday an application by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy summoning documents related to the case, questioning the relevance of such documents in a hearing in the Delhi high court.

“Whenever documents are required, the person seeking them must demonstrate their desirability and necessity to the furtherance of the case. In this case, no relevance was cited and this prejudices my rights. To add to it, no specific documents were sought under the application," said advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for YI.

He opposed both Swamy’s application and the order flowing from it by pointing out that it did not meet the requirements of relevancy of documents sought to be summoned under Section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

It was also submitted that the summoning order of 11 January was passed without giving Young Indian Pvt. Ltd an opportunity to be heard.

Sibal told the court that documents required for the case were already on record and those being summoned under the impugned order were not material to the case.

“The process of satisfaction of requirement of the documents must be reflected in the order passed by the court. There has to be a minimal element of reasoning which is to be disclosed before they are allowed to be summoned," said Abhishek Manu Singhvi who was appearing for accused Oscar Fernandes and Suman Dubey against the impugned order of 11 March.

On 11 January, a Delhi court, on Swamy’s plea passed an order summoning certain documents from the ministries of finance, urban development and corporate affairs, income tax department and other agencies in the case.

Subsequently, another order was passed on 11 March summoning the 2010-11 balance sheet of Associated Journals Pvt. Ltd. (AJL).

The court was hearing a plea by Young Indian Pvt Ltd seeking to quash the 11 January order contending that it had been passed without application of mind and considering the relevancy of such documents. The order of 11 March was also challenged on Monday.

The court had on 19 December last year, granted bail to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi, party leaders Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes and journalist Suman Dubey, who had appeared before it following a summons.

The case is based on a private criminal complaint lodged by Swamy raising accusations of cheating, conspiracy and criminal breach of trust in the acquisition of AJL (publisher of defunct National Herald newspaper) by YI through assignment of a 90 crore loan for 50 lakh by the Congress.

The Supreme Court had granted exemption to Sonia Gandhi from personal appearance in the trial court and also expunged some observations of the high court but refused to interfere with criminal proceedings before the lower court.

Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Vora, Fernandes, Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda were summoned for the alleged offences under section 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420(cheating) read with section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

The court will continue to hear the matter on Tuesday.

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Published: 05 Apr 2016, 01:32 AM IST
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