Court seeks 2010-2011 balance sheets of Congress, AJL

A court here on Monday asked for the balance sheets of the Congress, and the Associated Journals Pvt Ltd (AJL) for the year 2010-2011 in connection with the National Herald case.

Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen asked the Congress and AJL to submit, by April 8, the balance sheets in compliance of the March 11 order, after the party told the court that it needed time. The party said the summons were received on March 19.

On March 11, the court summoned the documents saying that these documents could not be referred as "personal documents" of the accused, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and her son Rahul Gandhi.

The order came on the plea of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy who sought summoning of balance sheet, receipts and payments accounts, income and expenditure statements for the year 2010-2011, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 of the Congress and the AJL.

He had earlier told the court that these records were necessary to establish the method adopted by the accused for purpose of extending loans to acquire AJL, through Young India.

On June 26, 2014, the trial court issued summons to the Congress leaders on Swamy's complaint about "cheating" in the acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd., which published the National Herald newspaper, by Young India Ltd., "a firm in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi each own a 38 percent stake".

Congress leaders Motilal Vora, and Oscar Fernandes, family friend Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda were also named as accused in the case.