National Herald case: Relief for Congress as Delhi court dismisses Subramanian Swamy’s plea
Granting major relief to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul in the National Herald case, Patiala House Court has dismissed BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s plea seeking certain documents from the Congress party and Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the holding company of the Congress party mouthpiece.
During the hearing on Monday, the counsel appearing for the accused told the court that Swamy was seeking a “fishing and roving enquiry” in the case by asking for the documents from the party and the AJL as he wanted to make out a “new case” against them.
In a case that dates back to 2012, Swamy had filed a complaint alleging misappropriation of funds in the acquisition of Associate Journals Ltd by Young Indian Pvt Ltd., a company owned by Congress leaders, including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi both of whom hold 38 percent shares each.
Swamy has also sought certain documents from the Registrar of Companies (ROC) which were filed by the AJL and papers from the Department of Income Tax (DoT) in relation to income tax returns filed by AJL.
The documents sought from the AJL included “authorisation by the members of the AJL to borrow money in excess of its paid-up capital and free reserve of AJL, relevant extracts from the books of accounts of the AJL during the period of loan and documents by which the loan was converted into shares in the books of AJL.”
Earlier too, Delhi High Court had set aside trial court’s orders, on Swamy’s plea, summoning documents and the balance sheet of the Congress party for 2010-2011, holding that they were passed without hearing the opposite side and that the lower court orders violated the “principle of natural justice” and the right to life and liberty under the Constitution.
Swamy had accused the Gandhis and other Congress leaders of allegedly conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by just paying Rs 50 lakh by which Young India obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore which AJL owed to the Congress party. All accused have denied the allegations.
