The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday alleged in a Delhi court that the Congress party orchestrated a scheme to take over assets worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore belonging to the now-defunct National Herald newspaper.
The accusations were made before the Rouse Avenue Court, where Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, representing the ED, claimed the plot was designed to benefit senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. According to the ED, the Congress leadership formed Young Indian Ltd, a company in which Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, and Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, hold majority stakes, to gain control of the newspaper’s extensive properties.
ASG Raju described the maneuver as a "conspiracy" involving fraudulent transactions, including fake advance rent payments backed by fabricated receipts, allegedly directed by top Congress functionaries. The case, heard by Special Judge Vishal Gogne under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), involves other prominent figures such as Congress Overseas Chief Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey.
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The ED has accused the group of engaging in money laundering by acquiring and retaining "proceeds of crime" worth Rs 142 crore, from which they allegedly continued to benefit until the agency intervened by attaching National Herald’s assets.
The National Herald, founded in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru and other Congress stalwarts, was a key voice for the party during India’s freedom struggle and beyond, publishing in English, Hindi, and Urdu under Associated Journals Limited (AJL). The newspaper shut down in 2008, burdened by debts exceeding Rs 90 crore.
The controversy erupted in 2012 when BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint, alleging that Congress leaders had misappropriated AJL’s properties through deceitful means. The ED’s investigation revealed that Young Indian acquired AJL’s assets for a mere Rs 50 lakh, despite their significantly higher market value. In November 2023, the agency attached AJL properties worth Rs 661 crore and shares valued at Rs 90.2 crore, labeling them as suspected proceeds of crime.
The court had previously directed Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others to respond to the ED’s prosecution complaint, questioning why legal action should not be initiated against them. As the case unfolds, the allegations of asset misappropriation and money laundering continue to cast a shadow over the Congress leadership, raising questions about the handling of the historic newspaper’s legacy.
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