Herald case: Court reserves order on taking cognisance of ED chargesheet

NEW DELHI: The court of special judge Vishal Gogne reserved Monday its order on taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed by ED in National Herald money laundering case for July 29.ED has accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sam Pitroda, late Congress functionaries Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes, and Young Indian Pvt Ltd, among others, of conspiracy and money laundering over the fraudulent takeover of properties valued at over Rs 2,000 crore belonging to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), which published the newspaper, National Herald.Court directed ED to ensure presence of the investigating officer (IO) for inspection of case files, if required, between July 15 and 17. "It is directed that the proposed accused shall file a brief synopsis of their submissions, not exceeding three to four pages, by July 19," the court said.On Saturday, additional solicitor general SV Raju completed his rejoinder arguments, following which counsel for some accused commenced their clarificatory arguments, which were completed on Monday. The court was hearing submissions on the point of cognisance by ED and the proposed accused on a day-to-day basis from July 2 to 8.

ED alleges that the Gandhis held a majority 76 per cent shares in Young Indian, which fraudulently usurped the assets of AJL in exchange for a Rs 90 crore loan. The chargesheet names Sonia, Rahul, Pitroda, Suman Dubey, Sunil Bhandari, Young Indian, and Dotex Merchandise.