National Herald Case: Sonia, Rahul to appear before court

In a major setback to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed their pleas that challenged the summons issued to them in connection with the National Herald case.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy had accused the Congress president and vice president of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by paying just Rs 50 lakh, by which Young Indian (YI) obtained the rights to recover Rs. 90.25 crore which the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) had owed to the Congress Party.

"The high court order today dismissed the petition of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vohara, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda, saying that the magistrate order summoning them for facing trial in case of their conspiracy to grab the property of National Herald," Swamy told reporters.

He asserted that this summons is not based on law and it should be squashed.

"The high court considered it fully and full arguments were done. The petition has no merit of these people and dismissed it. Finally, when they asked to exempt Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi from appearing etc, the court rejected the plea. They will have to face prosecution and ultimately they will have to go to jail," he added.

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