National Herald case: Hearing adjourned till November 3

The Delhi High Court today adjourned the hearing of the National Herald case involving Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi till November 3.

The hearing was adjourned last month for today, but due to the absence of one of the Congress lawyers, it was adjourned till November 3.

"The Congress lawyers, who are representing the Congress accused, they declined today to continue the matter despite the fact that the date of October 1 was mutually agreed, and suddenly, we were told today that one of the lawyers has some difficulty, he didn't turn up, and as a consequence, the court could not proceed," said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy.

He, however, added, "The judge observed that this is going on too long and he doesn't want it now to further extend time unnecessarily and they asked them for date they wanted it after Diwali so it has been fixed for November 3 starting at 12 'o' clock and if we can't complete it on November 3 then the next working day which is November 5 the matter will be completed."

"The trial court which has fixed the date December 9 they may also advance the date and on December 9 all these seven accused will have to appear," Swamy said.

He also crticised former prime minister Manmohan Singh's Advisor on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation Sam Pitroda of running away from the country, saying, "It's a shame on him, he has held positions in the government as adivisor of planning commissions, and today, he is refusing to come back to the country, he is hiding in Chicago, we served the summons to him in Chicago, and a warrant will be issued if he doesn't turn up in the trial court."

Swamy added, "I am sure this case is an open shut case and all of them will get punishment for this. The maximum punishment will be of 21 years and minimum of 10 years"

Subramanian Swamy had earlier accused Sonia, Rahul and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by just paying Rs 50 lakh by which Young Indian (YI) obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore which the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) had owed to the Congress Party.

Swamy has alleged that over Rs 2,000 crore worth of assets also got transferred to YI, whose 76 per cent of shareholding is with Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and the remaining shareholding of 24 per cent vests with the other accused.