A Delhi court on Friday issued notice to Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case. .Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne also issued notices to Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey, Sunil Bhandari, M/s Young India, and M/s Dotex Merchandise Pvt Ltd. The case will be heard next on May 8. Judge Gogne said that Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and others who have been named by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its chargesheet have a right to be heard at the time of cognisance. ."It is thus directed that notice be issued to the proposed accused persons in order that they may be heard on the question of cognizance upon the present complaint. Let a copy of the present order, complaint and accompanying documents be sent in digital form alongwith the notice to the proposed accused. Let the notice be issued through all permissible modes," the Court ordered. .The National Herald case pertains to the assignment of a ₹90 crore loan advanced by the Congress party to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) – owner of the National Herald – to Young Indian for a consideration of ₹50 lakh. It has been alleged that there was misappropriation of assets of over ₹2,000 crore in an equity transaction.In his private complaint, former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy had accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and Gandhi family-controlled Young Indian of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of property.The ED had filed the prosecution complaint against the Gandhis as well as Congress leader Sam Pitroda and others on April 15 this year..ED was represented through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, Special Counsel (SC) Zoheb Hossain, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) NK Matta, as well as advocates Harsh Paul Singh, Annam Venkatesh, Hitarth Raja, Pranjal Tripathi, Ilma Khan, Siddharth Kaushik and Mohd Faizan Khan..[Read Order]
