Sonia Gandhi, Rahul & Ors refused relief by Delhi HC in National Herald case

The Delhi High Court today dismissed the petitions filed by Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders that had sought quashing of summons issued by the trial court in the controversial National Herald Case..Politician Subramanian Swamy had filed a case against the Congress leaders, alleging cheating and misappropriation of funds in the acquisition of the newspaper. .A Single Bench of Justice Sunil Gaur pronounced the judgment at 2.15 pm today to a court packed with journalists and lawyers representing both sides. Swamy and Senior Advocate Harin Raval, who had represented the Gandhis (along with Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal & Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi), were present in Court for the pronouncement..In its 27-page order, the High Court came down heavily on all the Petitioners including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Oscar Fernandes, Motilal Vora, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda..Noting that the allegations against the office bearers of the Congress party were of “siphoning off party funds in a clandestine manner”, the Bench held that this being a unique case, an “expanded meaning of law had to be given”..“The impropriety of extending interest free loans to a separate legal entity i.e. AJL, which is a Public Limited Company, by the Congress Party is a matter of concern in a democratic set up, particularly, when the source of Congress Party’s fund is largely from donations given by public and so, any citizen can legitimately question the siphoning off funds by political party….…what crops up in the mind of a prudent person is as to where was the need of extending interest free loans to a Public Limited Company engaged in a commercial venture of publishing newspapers. This Court is of the considered view that the gravity of the allegations levelled against petitioners has a fraudulent flavour involving a national Political Party and so, serious imputations smacking of criminality levelled against petitioners need to be properly looked into.”.This judgment effectively paves way for the commencement of the trial of all the Petitioners in the case filed by Swamy. As per the latest update, the Petitioners are planning to move the Supreme Court in appeal..You can read the judgment below.