ED summons Sonia, Rahul in Herald case

New Delhi: Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and MP Rahul Gandhi have been served notices by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald case, asking them to appear before the agency.

The case relates to money laundering allegations in the 2011-12 National Herald case.

Sonia Gandhi has been asked to appear before the ED on June 8. However, Rahul Gandhi, who was asked to appear before the ED on Thursday, has sought more time as he is out of the country.

As per Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the ED has asked Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on June 8.

Party leader Randeep Surjewala said: "By targeting National Herald every now and then, the BJP has disgraced and disrespected freedom fighters as their (BJP's) predecessors didn't play a role in India's Freedom Movement." He also said that the National Herald newspaper was started in 1942.

"At that time the British tried to suppress it. Today, the Modi government is using the ED to do the same," Randeep Surjewala said.

"A money laundering case has been registered when there is no money laundering. The move reeks of a vendetta, pettiness, fear, and political cheapness," he said.

The National Herald is a newspaper founded by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and other freedom fighters in 1938. It aimed to voice the concerns of the liberal brigade in the Indian National Congress.

The newspaper was published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and became a mouthpiece of the Congress party after Independence.

In addition to the National Herald, AJL had two publications in Hindi and Urdu. However, the paper was shut down in 2008 with an outstanding debt of over Rs 90 crore.

The National Herald matter came to the fore when former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy filed a case in the Delhi High Court accusing Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of land grabbing and misappropriating funds worth thousands of crores of Rupees.

He alleged that the Gandhis had acquired a public limited company — AJL — through a privately held firm — Young India Limited — of which Rahul Gandhi was the director.

Many shareholders of the AJL, including former law minister Shanti Bhushan and former chief justice of Allahabad and Madras High Courts Markandey Katju, said they were not served any notice when YIL acquired control over it. They said that the shares held by their fathers were transferred to AJL in 2010 without their consent.

Subramanian Swamy in his complaint alleged that YIL "took over" the assets of AJL, including the National Herald, in a "malicious" manner to gain profit and acquire assets worth over Rs 2,000 crore.