National Herald case: Delhi court refuses to issue notice to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi | A Delhi court on Friday refused to issue notice to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and others in the National Herald money laundering case for now.

Special judge Vishal Gogne was acting on a plea of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which claimed cognisance of the complaint (ED's equivalent to a chargesheet) cannot be taken without hearing the accused according to the new provisions of law.

"Don't want this order to be prolonged. Let notice be issued," ED, which filed the chargesheet on April 9, urged the court.

The judge said he had to be satisfied before passing an order.

Before court passes any order, it has to see if there is any deficiency, the judge added.

"There are certain documents missing in the chargesheet as highlighted by the Ahlmad. ED is directed to file those documents. After that the court will decide the issue of notice," the court said.

The ED said it was "very transparent" and added, "Not hiding anything. Giving chance to them to come and give their point before cognisance is taken."

The judge posted the matter on May 2.

The court was also informed that the soft copies of the complaint and documents were filed by the ED in pursuance to its earlier direction.

However, certain documents were noticed to have not been filed or serialised appropriately, the court was informed by its staff.

The ED then informed the court that the investigating officer in the case should rectify any such deficiency.

"Let the documents in question or the serialisation be provided/rectified prior to the next date of hearing. List for further proceedings on May 2, 2025," the judge said.

The chargesheet was filed under Sections 3 (money laundering) and 4 (punishment for money laundering) of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The ED investigation began in 2021 after a metropolitan magistrate in Patiala House courts in Delhi took cognisance of a private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on June 26, 2014.