Patiala House Court To Resume Hearing In National Herald Case Today

The Patiala House Court will today (9 December) resume the hearing in the National Herald Case involving Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and other senior party leaders. The court had on 4 November adjourned the plea filed by Rajya Sabha MP and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramaniam Swamy.

Swamy had filed an application in 2012 accusing Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others associated with Congress of conspiring to cheat in a land deal.

In his complaint, Swamy had alleged that the Indian National Congress granted an interest-free loan of Rs 90.25 crore to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), owner of the National Herald newspaper established by Jawaharlal Nehru, which was either not repaid or repaid in case. This is in violation of Section 269T of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The court had, in August, issued notices to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, seeking response on Subramanian Swamy’s application. Besides the Congress president and her son, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda are the other accused in this case.