National Herald case: Subramanian Swamy opposes Rahul Gandhi's plea for NoC on fresh passport; details here
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vaibhav Mehta granted time to Subramanian Swamy to file a reply in the matter and posted it for May 26 for further hearing.
PremiumBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on May 24 opposed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea for the grant of a fresh passport and said that if the former member of parliament (MP) is allowed to travel abroad, it may hamper the probe in the National Herald case.
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vaibhav Mehta granted time to Subramanian Swamy to file a reply in the matter and posted it for May 26 for further hearing. Ahead of his visit to the United States, Gandhi approached the Delhi court on Tuesday, requesting a "no objection certificate" (NOC) to obtain a new ordinary passport after surrendering his diplomatic travel document upon his disqualification as an MP.
Gandhi seeks a normal passport as he is scheduled to address the Indian diaspora at the Madison Square and interact with students at Stanford University during his visit to the US next month.
The National Herald case pertains to the assignment of a ₹90 crore loan advanced by the Congress party to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the owner of the National Herald, to Young Indian for a consideration of ₹50 lakh.
In his private complaint, Subramanian Swamy had accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and Gandhi family-controlled Young Indian of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of property.
Gandhi was granted bail in the case along with his mother Sonia Gandhi and other accused persons by an order passed on December 19, 2015.
Mehta noted that the right to travel is a fundamental right and no restriction had been imposed on Rahul Gandhi while he was granted bail from the trial court in 2015. Also, advocate Tarannum Cheema appearing for Gandhi submitted that no travel restrictions have been imposed on him by the court.
Earlier this year, Gandhi was disqualified as an MP after being convicted for criminal defamation for on March 23 for his remark "all thieves have Modi surname" which he had made at an election rally in Karnataka's Kolar in 2019.
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