The ED chargesheet filed in April 2025 has named the Gandhi mother-son duo, along with key associates such as Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey, as accused under the PMLA. (Image Source: Instagram)
The political temperature in New Delhi is expected to rise today as the Rouse Avenue Court is set to pronounce a crucial order concerning the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the high-profile National Herald money laundering case.
Whether Special Judge Vishal Gogne takes cognizance of the chargesheet will be crucial in determining the fate of launching the formal trial against the Congress party's top brass, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, in the case that has repeatedly made headlines for years.
The ED chargesheet filed in April 2025 has named the Gandhi mother-son duo, along with key associates such as Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey, as accused under the PMLA.
The key allegation is that these individuals and their company, Young Indian (YI), orchestrated a "sham" transaction to fraudulently acquire the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), publisher of the historic National Herald newspaper.
The case involves an intriguing financial maze: a company called AJL, founded in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru and other freedom fighters and holding extensive real estate worth more than ₹2,000 crore, had amassed a loan of ₹90.25 crore with no interest from the All India Congress Committee.
The ED said this huge debt was later assigned for a meager amount of ₹50 lakh to the newly formed Young Indian. Since Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi hold collectively a 76% share in YI, the prosecution contends this effectively gave them beneficial ownership of the extensive, commercially valuable assets held by AJL, which were actually supposed to be used only for publishing newspapers.
The peculiar legal contention on which ED's case rests is that of money laundering without any established source of black money. It argues that the transaction itself the fraudulent transfer of control and valuable assets from the nonprofit AJL to the Gandhi-controlled YI is the "proceeds of crime" in question under the PMLA.
Also Read: Hot Air Balloon Rides First Ever Launch in Delhi: Key Details Inside
The Congress party has all along dubbed this as a "political vendetta," arguing that YI was incorporated as a not-for-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, thereby legally prohibiting any individual from extracting financial profit or dividends.
The defense lawyers called the prosecution "strange and unprecedented," asserting since the property was never sold or converted into liquid cash for personal gain, there can be no "proceeds of crime" as defined by the PMLA.
Today's ruling of the court will thus mark a major turning point. A cognizance decision would uphold the prima facie findings of the ED and open the doors to a high-profile trial and a substantial intensification of the legal-political battle between the ruling establishment and the main opposition party.
Also Read: Trump Admin Freezes All Asylum Decisions After DC Shooting by Afghan National | Details Inside
