ED names Sonia, Rahul Gandhi in National Herald money laundering case chargesheet

A special court fixed April 25 as the hearing date.

"The present prosecution complaint shall next be taken up for consideration, on the aspect of cognisance... when Special Counsel for the ED and the Investigating Officer shall also ensure production of the case diaries for perusal by the court," special judge Vishal Gogne said.

This is the first time a chargesheet has named Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

The Gandhis have not responded so far, but Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury hit out at a "conspiracy" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and dismissed the probe agency's actions.

"This is PM Modi's conspiracy to destroy the Congress... you can make them (the ED) do anything and we don't care about that. We are not afraid of the BJP and PM Modi... we will fight this..." Adhir Chowdhury said.

On Saturday, the ED issued notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore.

These properties had been attached in November 2023 to the investigation into allegations of money laundering against Congress-controlled Associated Journals Limited (AJL).

The notices, which sought to vacate the premises, were affixed at properties in Delhi, Mumbai's Bandra area, and the AJL building on Bisheshwar Nath Road in Lucknow.

The ED began its investigation in the National Herald case in 2021 based on a June 2014 order from Delhi's Patiala House court following a private complaint filed by the BJP's Subramanian Swamy.

In his complaint, Swamy claimed a criminal conspiracy by prominent Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others, and a company, Young Indian Pvt Ltd, to launder money from the fraudulent takeover of properties belonging to AJL and valued at over Rs 2,000 crore.

The National Herald is a newspaper published by AJL and owned by Young Indian.

Both Gandhis are majority shareholders in the latter, with 38 percent shares allotted to each.

Meanwhile, the chargesheet was filed hours after businessman Robert Vadra, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's husband and Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, was questioned by the probe agency over money laundering allegations linked to a real estate deal in Haryana.

Vadra - who arrived for questioning with Congress supporters shouting 'jab Modi darta hai, ED ko aage karta hai', or 'whenever Modi is scared, he calls on the ED' - dismissed the allegations against him as "political vendetta".