Delhi court to pronounce order on National Herald case

A Delhi court will on Monday pronounce its order in the National Herald case in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy filed an application seeking documents and ledger books from the Congress Party and the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).

Swamy in his petition alleged that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi got hold of Associated Journals through "dishonest means" which pertains to "criminal misappropriation and criminal breach of trust."

However the defence counsel, appearing for Gandhi, said Swami filed a complaint in July 2013 which has no reference regarding the loan borrowed from the Congress.

They said neither Swamy made the Congress an accused nor he alleged that no office bearers were authorized to lend the loan. The counsel argued that the details of loan were never mentioned in the returns and the documents Swami asked are not necessary for this case.

However, Swamy refuted the claim, saying, "They have been saying that I don't have a case, how can that be when the court has issued summons for them. So, they are buying time and delaying, but they will not escape."

Swamy further alleged that he revealed a correspondence between Sardar Vallabhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru where the former alleged that Nehru had indulged in corrupt practices by collecting money for National Herald by giving away government contracts to undesirable parties.

"The National Herald is being used by the Nehru family to collect funds and aggrandise them. I wanted to know whether Sonia and Rahul Gandhi got hold of Associated journals limited by honest means or dishonest means, My allegations is that they acquired through dishonest means which is criminal misappropriation and criminal breach of trust," he said.

Swamy had filed an application in 2012 accusing Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others associated with Congress of conspiring to cheat in a land deal.

In his complaint, Swamy had alleged that the Congress granted an interest-free loan of Rs. 90.25 crore to the AJL, owner of the National Herald newspaper, established by Jawaharlal Nehru, which was either not repaid or repaid in case. This is in violation of Section 269T of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

In August, the court issued notices to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and five others on Swamy's application seeking presentation of certain documents from Associated Journals Pvt. Ltd (AJL) and Indian National Congress (INC) in connection with the National Herald case.