In a major development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others in connection with the National Herald money-laundering case. The chargesheet, filed on April 9, names several key figures including Congress leaders Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey as co-accused. The chargesheet has been submitted under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), dealing with money laundering and its punishment respectively. Special ED public prosecutor N.K. Matta presented the chargesheet before Special Judge Vishal Gogne, who is designated to handle cases involving lawmakers.
The court, after preliminary examination, posted the matter for cognisance on April 25. It directed the ED to provide a soft, readable, OCR-compatible version of the complaint and accompanying documents before the next hearing. The judge also instructed court staff to properly paginate the physical file.
Judge Gogne noted that the ED intends to move a formal request before the Principal District and Sessions Judge to transfer the related predicate offence case—currently being probed by the CBI—into his court. As per legal procedure, both the predicate offence and the PMLA offence are required to be tried together.
The predicate offence in this case involves charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy, and other violations. It stems from a private complaint filed in 2014 by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, which accused the Congress leaders of acquiring the assets of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), publishers of the National Herald, through a series of financial manipulations.
Since both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are sitting members of Parliament, the trial falls under the jurisdiction of the special court for lawmakers.
The ED’s probe was formally launched in 2021, years after Swamy’s original complaint was taken up by the Patiala House Court in Delhi. With the chargesheet now filed, the case is set to enter a critical phase as the court decides whether to take cognisance on April 25.
