Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Jul 27: The Delhi High Court on Monday granted Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and other respondents three weeks to file their replies to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) revision petition challenging a trial court's refusal to take cognisance of its prosecution complaint in the alleged National Herald money laundering case.
Justice Manoj Jain, hearing the matter as a single-judge Bench, allowed the respondents additional time to submit their responses and scheduled the next hearing for September 10.
Besides Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the ED has named Congress Overseas chief Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey, Sunil Bhandari, Young Indian, and Dotex Merchandise Private Limited as proposed accused in the proceedings.
The central agency has challenged the December 16, 2025, order of the Rouse Avenue Court, which had declined to take cognisance of its prosecution complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), holding that the complaint was not legally maintainable.
In its revision petition, the ED argued that the trial court had erred in concluding that a money laundering prosecution under the PMLA cannot be based on a scheduled offence arising from a private complaint rather than a police FIR.
According to the agency, once a competent court has taken cognisance of a private complaint, it carries equal, if not greater, legal significance than a police-registered FIR. The ED maintained that criminal proceedings can validly originate either through a police investigation or through a private complaint filed before a magistrate.
Earlier, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the ED, contended before the High Court that upholding the trial court's interpretation would effectively render the PMLA ineffective. He argued that the law does not prescribe any specific mode for initiating money laundering proceedings and only requires that the alleged laundering be connected to a scheduled offence.
After hearing the ED's submissions, the High Court had previously observed that the issues raised required detailed examination and subsequently issued notices to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the other respondents.
The National Herald case centres on allegations that senior Congress leaders conspired to acquire control of assets worth over ?2,000 crore belonging to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of the National Herald newspaper, through Young Indian, a company in which Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders.
According to the allegations, Young Indian acquired the rights over AJL's assets by paying ?50 lakh, a transaction that has been questioned by the investigating agency.
The controversy dates back to 2012, when BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a private complaint before a trial court alleging offences including cheating and criminal breach of trust in connection with Young Indian's acquisition of AJL. The proceedings have since evolved into one of the country's most closely watched legal and political cases.